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Verdun1916
Reviews
Im Westen nichts Neues (2022)
Visceral but lacking depth.
The atmosphere, brutality and scenery of this film are absolutely top draw. Unfortunately, the film is let down by a rushed plot, bland characters and many cliche First World War tropes.
The film starts with a brutal introduction to trench warfare and the sheer industrial scale of the killing. Unfortunately, when we meet the main character Paul and his friends, there is virtually no time for introduction. A short speech about courage/duty for their schoolteacher, a quick sign up with the army and its off to the front.
With the 1979 version of this film, you got much more depth in the background/training of the characters. Their idealism was sincere as it was set at the outbreak of the war in 1914. Instead, the 2022 version begins in the spring of 1917. Surely by this time, the facade of an easy victory and being in Paris by next week would have been blown out of the water. Germany would have endured a punishing year at Verdun/Somme in 1916 and there would have been no hiding this from the public, no matter how much the government wanted to censor things.
The film picks up with the characters visiting the front-line trenches for the first time. The power of artillery is excellently displayed with the characters huddling to survive in bunkers which eventually collapse. The scene of Paul taking dog tags off the bloodied corpses is especially hard hitting. However, just as the film is starting to warm up, we get an 18 month time skip to 7th November 1918, the virtual end of the war...
So we have missed the battles of Third Ypres in summer/autumn of 1917 as well as all the German offensives in early 1918. Whilst the filmmakers obviously couldn't include every battle, it would have been nice to have known what the characters had gone through in these 18 months...
Then we have the bloodthirsty German general who hates the liberals and wants to continue the war on the 7th November 1918...By this time Ludendorff had been sacked and the German army was collapsing on all fronts against the French, British and American forces. They were in no position to be launching attacks.
The scenes behind the lines when they are potato peeling, stealing a goose or when Tjaden is wounded are very good. However, that doesn't stop the filmmakers dropping the typical First World War stereotypes. The German general enjoying all the best food/wine in his mansion whilst his troops are slaughtered for fun. The German infantry charging straight at French machine guns, without any form of artillery cover to suppress them. The French tanks being in exactly the right spot to counter attack once the Germans take the first line of trenches. Gradually all the main characters are bumped off. It all seemed so contrived.
The storyline is also interwoven with a sub plot involving German politician Matthias Erzberger who eventually agrees to the proposed Armistice on 11th November 1918. However, the nasty liberal hating German general isn't having any of it and orders his men to again storm the French trenches at 10.30am on 11th November 1918. Who is writing this garbage?
The French are too busy partying to put a sentry on duty and get drawn into a hand-to-hand fight with the Germans. Again, how does a German infantry force cross No Man's Land with no artillery support and still make it to the French lines, which also neatly have virtually no barbwire obstacles. The Germans are eventually dispatched and with them the main character Paul.
I really did try to enjoy this film and maybe some of the complaints above are nit-picking. However, the tactical naivety of both the French and Germans really did undermine the visceral battle scenes for me. The setting of the majority of the film four days before the end of the war in 1918 also greatly diluted the realism and impact of the story.