Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, egged on by romantic dreams of heroism, voluntarily enlist in the German army. Full of excitement and patriotic fervour, the boys enthusiastically march into a war they believe in. But once on the Western Front, they discover the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.4/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 4.07/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
Metacritic: 76
TMDB: 7.7/10
Director
Edward Berger
Production
Amusement Park Films, Gunpowder Films
Cast
Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Aaron Hilmer, Moritz Klaus, Adrian Grünewald, Edin Hasanović, Daniel Brühl, Thibault de Montalembert, Devid Striesow, Andreas Döhler, Sebastian Hülk, Luc Feit, Michael Wittenborn, Michael Stange, Sascha Nathan, Tobias Langhoff, Anton von Lucke, Michael Pitthan, Joe Weintraub, Charles Morillon
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A punishing, immersive anti-war film that pairs visceral battlefield realism with a bleak emotional core. It’s especially effective if you want World War I horror rendered with modern technical force and a strong sense of tragic inevitability.
Best for
viewers who want brutal, realistic war cinema
fans of anti-war stories and literary adaptations
people drawn to strong sound design, cinematography, and production craft
audiences interested in the German perspective on World War I
Skip if
you want a hopeful or uplifting war movie
you’re looking for fast-moving action over sustained dread
graphic battlefield violence and wartime suffering are a turnoff
you prefer looser adaptations that expand beyond the source’s anti-war focus
Overview
Edward Berger’s adaptation is less interested in battlefield strategy than in the machinery of disillusionment. It follows young volunteers as patriotic fantasy gives way to mud, terror, and the slow erasure of innocence, and it does so with relentless visual and sonic force.
Worth noting
What makes it stand out is the scale of its craft: the trenches feel tactile, the artillery feels physical, and the film’s pacing keeps tightening the vise. It’s not subtle, but it is devastating, and its formal precision gives the familiar anti-war message renewed impact.
Bottom line
The film’s emotional power comes from its refusal to romanticize sacrifice. Instead, it frames war as waste, showing how institutions consume the young and leave behind only grief, exhaustion, and silence. It’s heavy viewing, but for the right audience, it’s one of the most affecting war films of recent years.
Top Letterboxd reviews
elvisthealien (4.5★) · 6212 likes
Best war movie I've seen in years. I was bawling my eyes out during *that* scene between the two soldiers in the crater. Outstanding performances all around.
Matt Neglia (4.5★) · 5139 likes
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is the most terrifyingly realistic depiction of war on film since Saving Private Ryan. A bleak, brutal onslaught on the senses with an immersive soundscape & astonishing cinematography. A stunning technical achievement on all fronts from production design, makeup, original score to Felix Kammerer’s agonizing performance.
Jamelle Bouie (2★) · 5064 likes
I absolutely get why people like this movie. It is a brutal and visually-impressive depiction of the mind-numbing violence and chaos of the First World War. It shows, unflinchingly, what it might have actually looked like to fight in those trenches.
For as good as that might be, however, it is not "All Quiet on the Western Front."
Erich Maria Remarque 1929 novel is not about the violence and chaos of The Great War, although that is an important part… more
Rohit R (4.5★) · 4949 likes
21 years later some mf really convinced all of Germany for a second attempt.
James (Schaffrillas) (2.5★) · 4100 likes
Fine I guess? Well-made, I suppose? I just feel like I've gotten everything I can out of Oscar-nominated war films and I don't need to see any more