Germany's 'All Quiet on the Western Front' revels in nine Oscar nods
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[January 25, 2023]
By Claudia Doerries
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's reboot of the famous anti-war classic "All
Quiet on the Western Front" landed nine Oscar nominations on Tuesday,
including best picture, a haul that surprised its creators.
The Netflix movie, the first German version of the epic 1929 novel by
German author Erich Maria Remarque, was one of the most recognized films
in the 2023 Oscar nods, behind "Everything Everywhere All at Once" with
11 and tied with "The Banshees of Inisherin".
"Especially after a really hard movie to make, it's just a really nice
gift to get," said director Edward Berger, who was filming in Rome when
he learned of the nominations.
Producer Malte Grunert said that after the film's 14 BAFTA nominations
last week they had "no clue whether that would translate into Academy
Awards nominations."
When the film premiered in September at the Toronto International Film
Festival, Berger had said he wanted to share how the world wars started
by his country had led to a collective generational scar on German
society.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" tells the story of young students who
go to World War One blinded by right-wing propaganda and nationalist
hate, something that Grunert says resonates with modern times.
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Albrecht Schuch, Edward Berger, and
Malte Grunert arrive at the world premiere of "All Quiet on the
Western Front" at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in
Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 12, 2022. REUTERS/Mark Blinch
"It makes people believe that war
might be an adventure and appropriate means to solve a conflict when
it isn't an adventure and it means death and destruction and
suffering," said Grunert.
"And to remind us of that felt like a relevant message, even before
the war in Ukraine."
The movie is also nominated for best international feature film,
adapted screenplay, cinematography, visual effects and production
design.
The first film adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front" was
made in Hollywood and was banned in Germany shortly after its
release in 1930, while Remarque's book was burned and he had to
flee.
"Hollywood became a place of refuge for so many artists that had to
escape from Europe," Grunert said. "To be even remotely connected to
this tradition is something that would make us very proud."
(Additional reporting by Alicia Powell in New York; Writing by Mary
Milliken; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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