
The Tailors of Tomaszow: A Memoir of Polish Jews
Rena Margulies Chernoff and Allan Chernoff
Book
Seven decades after the Nazis annihilated the Jewish community of Tomaszow-Mazowiecki, Poland, comes...

Hunter Killer: Inside the Lethal World of Drone Warfare
Book
We are too close. We know too much, and when it is time to shoot, we can zoom in until the target...

Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany and Italy in the Decade After World War I
Book
Charles Maier, one of the most prominent contemporary scholars of European history, published...

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) in Movies
Feb 2, 2023
And the book is even bleaker.
Directed by Edward Berger, ALL QUIET follows young Felix Kammerer (Paul Baumer) as he joyfully joins the German army to fight the French. Quickly, Felix learns of the cost of war and the grim reality of trench warfare.
Berger has a strong view of all of this and his Direction and Camerawork are squarely focused on young Felix and his continued attempts to stay alive amidst the fighting. Berger handles the action - and the acting - strongly and the Cinematography of this film by James Friend aides in the bleakness and futility of the conflict, showering the combatants in muted blues and grays and covering them all in mud. Berger does not hold back on the horrors of war (without going to “gorey”) and delivers a moody, bleak and important film.
Baumer plays Felix with an innocent sincerity that gives way to resolute abandonment of hope as the bleakness of the affair drags on. His futility is, then, juxtaposed against German envoy Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Bruhl) who is trying to negotiate a surrender with the French. The building frustration of both men are clearly shown growing as the film elapses.
And that is another strong suit about this film - it shows the situations, the hopelessness and negativity of war without having to “tell” or comment about it. The pictures are all one needs to know.
An anti-war film of the highest order, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT is a must see - the best adaptation of this classic novel ever.
Letter Grade: A
9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

Global Population: History, Geopolitics, and Life on Earth
Book
Concern about the size of the world's population did not begin with the "population bomb" in 1968....

Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay
Book
THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Amory Clay's first memory is of her father doing a handstand -...

The Monsoon War: Young Officers Reminisce 1965 India-Pakistan War
Amarinder Singh and Tajindar Shergill
Book
When Pakistan first attacked in September 1965, the main objective of the GOC-in-C of the Western...

Great Escaper: A Young POW in the Most Audacious Breakout of WWII
Book
John 'Willy' Williams was a medical student and passionate surfer turned Squadron Leader and Second...

Tron (26 KP) rated Monstrous Regiment: (Discworld Novel 31) in Books
May 15, 2017

South: The Endurance Expedition
Book
As the first world war broke out across Europe, Shackleton's expedition to the South Pole became...