• ks •’s review published on Letterboxd:
- What Is A Soldier Without War?
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) presents the naive vision of young people ready to go to action, yearning for it, hoping to find a glorious adventure for their careers, but, as we have already seen in millions of past works or simply by the facts themselves, there is nothing good or new on the front. In a visceral, harrowing way and in extreme psychological decline for the characters presented on screen, the feature film demonstrates in a bitter but honest way the disgrace of participating in a war, be placed in trenches waiting to be noticed by superiors, but in the end, you are just one of many, who were deceived by the false promise of honor and gratitude from the homeland. As opposed to focusing on human arcs or not going too far into politics as a whole, the project takes approaches of focusing on the sadness and hope of the soldiers who yearn to finally be free from all that, the irony of human life reaching them, something they so desired a while ago, it is what they fear most in their present present. And in the face of unbridled visceral violence composed of energetic direction, desperate soundtrack and exceptional practical effects, All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) throughout its shooting time goes through a good time demonstrating through brief or even extensive brutal images, the horror of the whole existence of war, and although it is simple and does not pay much attention to exploring those characters that are on screen, from time to time he still manages to take a moment of calm to be able to compensate a little for all the despair that is the film from beginning to end, and when these moments intertwine the conclusion of those same characters who were present in these scenes, it is certainly to leave anyone intertwined quickly. After all this, the questioning that is maintained by means of grandiose figures about a soldier without his war what he is, well, the answer is simple, he has life.
Felix Kammerer's depressing performance complemented by the desperation of his friends made up of an extraordinary supporting cast, is the perfect formula for this film to be noticed and not go unnoticed being just another film of the genre, this one is special, and worth checking out.