Germany’s newest cinematic export, All Quiet On The Western Front, has been nominated for nine Oscars at the upcoming 2023 ceremony. But critics in Germany weren’t so impressed.

Remarque adaptation nominated for nine Oscars

All Quiet On The Western Front, or Im Westen Nichts Neues as it is titled in German, has been nominated for nine Oscars at the upcoming awards ceremony in March. 

If the film - which is an adaptation of the 1929 anti-war novel of the same name written by Osnabrück-born author Erich Maria Remarque - wins all the awards it is nominated for, it will become the most honoured German film of all time. 

If the film wins just one of the Oscars it has been nominated for, it will be the first full-length German-language film winner at the Academy Awards since The Lives of Others took home Best Foreign Language Film in 2007.

German critics unimpressed by adaptation

Despite the hoo-ha, film critics in Germany have been left somewhat unimpressed by the adaptation, directed by Edward Berger. From the beginning Berger had set himself up for tough comparisons, deciding to take on one of Germany’s best-known books, which is studied by schoolchildren across the country, along with selling 20 million copies worldwide.

To this exact point, Berger has faced some cheeky and scathing criticism from Süddeutsche Zeitung’s film critic Hubert Wetzel who, back when the film was released in October, wrote, “no book is so good that you can’t turn it into a terrible film.”

Taking no prisoners, Wetzel questioned “whether director Berger has even read Remarque’s novel.” This has been a theme among the film’s reviews, with many claiming Berger has granted himself too much artistic license in regard to historical accuracy. Another critic, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, accused Berger of having removed “the inner plot, the brains of the story”, saying, “Berger and his scriptwriters replaced [Remarque's narrative] with a Hollywood programme.”

Whether Berger’s film triumphs with nine Oscars, one, or none in March, the critics will surely have much more to add.

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