All Quiet on the Western Front, a new Netflix war movie, is getting rave reviews and has an almost perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. One of the biggest budget movies to come out of Germany and the country's entry for this year's Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category, the movie currently has a critics' score of 94% on the review aggregator site, with an audience score of 91%.
Entertainment Weekly describes All Quiet on the Western Front as "a film that feels both aesthetically dazzling and full of necessary truths: an antiwar drama that transcends the bombast of propaganda mostly just because it's so artfully and indelibly made," while The Observer says the movie is "remarkable, if harrowing, film-making".
Based on the 1929 classic novel about World War I by former German infantryman Erich Maria Remarque, the movie follows teenagers Paul Baumer and his friends Albert and Muller, who voluntarily enlist in the German army. Initially passionately patriotic, their preconceptions about what’s right and wrong quickly crumble away as they witness the horrors of life on the front.
This isn’t the first time the novel has been adapted – a version made for the screen soon after its publication went on to win Best Picture at the 1930 Oscars and a Golden Globe-winning TV movie followed in 1979. However, this is the first time it’s been adapted by a German filmmaker. Edward Berger directed the movie, who’s previously helmed projects like the Showtime series Patrick Melrose starring Benedict Cumberbatch and AMC’s The Terror featuring Tobias Menzies and George Takei.
All Quiet on the Western Front is available to stream now on Netflix. For more viewing inspiration, check out our picks of the other best Netflix movies to add to your watch list.
