The quiet wasteland at the beginning of the new version of "No War on the Western Front" and the desolate forest at the end of the film, as if the noisy artillery fire of World War I was just a passer-by, and the "big peninsula" in the west of Eurasia seemed to be undisturbed by humans, but naturally transitioned from the early summer of 1914 to the late autumn of 1918.
The new version of the poster of "No War on the Western Front"
As the most famous anti-war novel of the 20th century, it was serialized in the Fox newspaper in 1928 and published as a single book the following year. It was then made into a film in 1930, winning multiple Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director, because this version of the film was too classic, until 1979 there was a second film and television adaptation version - later film critics generally commented that the 1979 version of "No War on the Western Front" was not as artistic as the 1930 version, but it also reflected the absurdity of the war - the 1979 version won the Golden Globe Award for Best TV Movie.
It can be seen that there is a 1930 version of "No War on the Western Front" Zhuyu in front, and most of the people who come after can only take a detour.
The streaming film "No War on the Western Front", which will be launched on Netflix in 2022, is the third film and television adaptation nearly a hundred years after the original work came out, and it is also the first time that it is created by a German.
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front"
Unlike the two obvious American perspectives in the past, this German version is quite interesting, because the film contains a lot of "original content" in addition to retaining some of the classic plots of the novel. In September 2022, the new version of "No War on the Western Front" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and at the premiere, the film's creator said that when the film was filmed, the European Union was facing disintegration, the right-wing populism in the United States was on the rise, and the United Kingdom launched the Brexit process. They believe that at this particular moment, the film is to let everyone know that ultra-nationalism and separatism cannot really bring progress. (Amazingly, they avoid talking about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict)
After listening to the main creators' elevated theme, you can understand where the extra "originality" in the new version of "No War on the Western Front" comes from. The arrogant French general demanded that the German negotiating team accept the surrender of the treaty, and the negotiating place was in a train car in the Compiègne forest. The details are not explained in the film, but it can be inferred from the luxurious interior of the carriage that the film can only refer to the royal carriage of the French Emperor Napoleon III with the number 2419D.
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front"
This constitutes a reincarnation in and out of the film - the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the defeat of France, and the payment of reparations for the cession of land; In 1918, Germany was defeated in World War I and paid reparations for the cession of land; Shortly after the start of World War II in 1940, France died in the blitzkrieg, and Hitler specifically ordered that car 2419D in the Les Invalides in Paris be moved to the signing site to witness the French cession of land reparations.
That's why the members of the German delegation in the film have a line: Why can't you give your opponent the decency it deserves?
"Decency" is precisely the most absurd thing about the logic of the war of the First World War. In the film, the Prussian Junker aristocracy reminisces about the glory of his father and wants to recreate the great achievements of Bismarck's three wars to unify Germany (the Prussian War of 1864, the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870). However, they have long forgotten the admonition of "avoiding war" at the end of Bismarck. These people have never been to the battlefield and see war as a child's play. In the film, they are just talking, eating a big meal, drinking fine wine, and never leaving the mansion from beginning to end.
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front", the front is tight, and the rear is tight
The plot design of the 2022 version can be regarded as a "rank" improvement for the original book, in the novel, Corporal Himmestus has been urging the recruit Egg to die generously, and finally the protagonist Paul finds Himmestus himself shivering and hiding in the trenches.
The difference between the 2022 version and the first two films in this detail may lie in the different perspectives of Germany and the United States, in the Hollywood version, the German devil is one, but the new version returns to the original intention of Erich Maria Remarque when he wrote, the characters in the book curse the Prussians from time to time, and the film also attributes the reflection point of being mired in war to the Prussian Junker class who dream of war all day.
All three versions of the film retain the most classic passages of the novel - Paul draws a dagger in the trench and stabs the enemy in the chest, the French soldier did not die immediately, moaning all night, when Paul tried to help, the enemy was out of breath, Paul took out the other party's notepad and wanted to write to inform his family, only to find that the Frenchman was a typesetter before joining the army.
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front"
However, from the details point of view, the new version of the movie highlights the following points: 1. The French soldiers wanted to shoot Paul after discovering him; 2. Paul's self-defense was forced to helpless; 3. Paul felt guilty after piercing the other person's heart, and immediately kindly wanted first aid.
This change undoubtedly gives the protagonist Paul legitimacy in the modern sense, but in the novel (see chapter 9 for details), the French soldiers plop down into the crater where Paul is, and Paul's reaction that night is based on one premise - to keep himself alive. Because Paul was already a veteran at this time, he had seen the real battlefield of World War I, which later generations called the "meat grinder". The Paul in the novel is in line with human nature, and Paul in the film is overly pretentious.
The biggest failure of the new version of No War on the Western Front is Paul's death.
Butterflies are mentioned several times in the novel, and butterflies are a collection of many references: beauty, vulnerability, life, and equality. It is precisely for this reason that the 1930 version takes the novel as the movie outline, giving the protagonist the ending of reaching out to grab the butterfly, and unfortunately he dies from a cold gun. The little man died on the battlefield, and the entire front line was so silent and quiet that the commander received a report that "there was no war on the Western Front."
Stills from the 1930 version of "No War on the Western Front"
The author is puzzled, such a poetic and absurd ending, why the new version of the creator abandoned and did not use, I have not seen the main creator discuss the changes in the interview, is it the story of "a butterfly on the Amazon River, flapping its wings a few times, causing a tornado in the United States two weeks later", which makes them feel that the butterfly effect has changed the butterfly symbol in "No War on the Western Front".
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front", Paul's death
So Paul died in an inexplicable Prussian Juncker's dignified battle, where he was pierced through the heart against the French soldier he had stabbed to death.
There was a meaningless battle when the armistice was about to take place, and it was impossible to make the front line so peaceful, and could the commander really receive a battle report with the inscription "No war on the Western Front"?
Stills from the new version of "No War on the Western Front"
Undoubtedly, many changes in the new version of "No War on the Western Front" are highlighting that small people can only be duckweed in the big era, but they lightly let go of this rabble, rushed to the battlefield under the instigation, and vowed to become a "great generation". Outside the film, it was also this group of people, under the encouragement of the Nazis, who overthrew the Weimar Republic with public opinion. The creators of the new edition probably really forgot what happened to the Berlin premiere of the 1930 version of "No War on the Western Front" - under the instigation of Goebbels, thousands of cockroaches and mice were put into theaters, and the film was later banned after the Nazis came to power. These surging public opinions have been brushed over in the new version of the movie.
Most of the evil in the film is attributed to the German upper echelons, and a small part of the hidden poke is directed at France. In the author's opinion, this is more like a kind of reincarnation summary of the current EU chaos by the creators - it is both the historical fate of Europe before and after World War I and World War II, and the actual ghost of Europe a hundred years after World War I. But is this still Erich Maria Remarque's "No War on the Western Front"?