All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)

While only those who have experienced war first hand will know what hell is, the rest of us have started to get an inkling of it with films like 1917, Come and See and now this - this most relentless tale of a young German man's experiences, and the madness, at the Western front in WW1. This is a truly horrifying film. It's a great portrayal but is it a great film? Does it cross the line by overdoing it?  If it helps to reduce the hurling of young men into war then it's necessary - and I believe all leaders should be schooled by having to watch content like this.

There's mud, blood, mutilation, pathos, fear, panic and sheer chaos - delivered with technical excellence. It's underlined with a powerful, spasmodic soundtrack that on its own creates a sense of dread and doom. The acting is superb throughout too.

You have to be prepared to watch this. I had to do it over 2 nights. It's 2:30 runtime feels longer - not because it is a bad film - but because it is so good at portraying the horror of it all.

LivDiv wrote:

I thought it was brilliant. Absolutely brutal and unapologetic. The journey you go on with the lead character is a fantastic way of showing what those men went through, I took the lead as a amalgamation of experiences . I'll forgive a couple of bits of artistic license for the greater message.

Spoiler:

those points being him finding the poster his mate put up and dying on 11 oclock

I agree re its brilliance. It's almost too good at what it sets out to do.

davyK wrote:

LivDiv wrote:

I thought it was brilliant. Absolutely brutal and unapologetic. The journey you go on with the lead character is a fantastic way of showing what those men went through, I took the lead as a amalgamation of experiences . I'll forgive a couple of bits of artistic license for the greater message.

Spoiler:

those points being him finding the poster his mate put up and dying on 11 oclock

I agree re its brilliance. It's almost too good at what it sets out to do.

Spoiler:

That mad general who looked like Dr. Robotnik....what a cunt

I'm glad I got to see this in the cinema. Very cinematic film and a shame it only had a limited release.

There's a short making of on YouTube. Haven't checked it out yet.

Yeah that's a great film.

You heartless monster

There's something about Paddington as a character I just don't like. There's something very tame middle class about it.

The sequel is better.

P2 is part of the mighty Hugh Grant Renaissance.

The Hunger Games

Middle daughter away, so decided to watch this with the older one, and she enjoyed it. It's kinda.. meh... but we might watch the other ones, who knows. A prequel out this year too, apparently.

Won’t you come say “how do”? That was one of the songs, right?! The one I remember. Haven’t seen it on yonks though.

I put the subtitles on and the song lyrics are by turns bawdy and creepy as fuck.

I'm not sure the different versions really make that much of a difference - not narratively anyhow. The cut I watched tonight does set the scene quite well - it introduces Woodward's character for example - but then some might prefer to not have stuff like that. It doesn't take anything away having that at the start though.

Pretty sure I caught a young Jamesie from Rab C Nesbitt in one extra scene at the start.

   Can't help myself.  They are window dressing in this film - so that's my defence.

My least favourite of the guns by a mile but still better than most Hollywood comedies.

Paddington is proper good.

Ivan's Childhood is Tarkovsky's debut film and while it doesn't exactly feel like his work it certainly has some early signs; his use of water and rain being one.

It's a fairly depressing affair with little in the way of light relief; set at the Russian/German front in WW2 it is centred around an orphaned boy who has taken up with the local military after escaping from the Germans when he ran with the partisans. He is found to be invaluable because of his small size and resourcefulness at reconnaissance , but there's a moral quandry for them. It's very well made and looks great and the performances are just as good but it's heavy going because of the subject matter - so you need to be in the mood for it. Structurally it's narratively led with some flashbacks and so pretty accessible.

Mosfilm on youtube have most of Tarkovsky's output available for free - quality transfer and the subtitles are excellent. Worth checking the channel out if this is your thing.