Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL bemoans that no major streaming subscription comes with free access to the 1930 classic “All Quiet on the Western Front”, but Netflix has the next best thing. 

IT’S now been almost 100 years since “All Quiet on the Western Front”. first hit screens, one so old that when it was released it earned the label of a “talkie” – slang for a bold new genre of movies that featured sound.

And yet even by today’s standards this incredible work remains one of the most shocking and fittingly disturbing pieces of anti-war art ever made.

A review at the time of its release that appeared in “Variety” captures just how much of an impact it made on a world still picking up the pieces from the war to end all wars: “The League of Nations could make no better investment than to buy up the master-print, reproduce it in every language, to be shown in all the nations until the word ‘war’ is taken out of the dictionaries.”

While sad indeed then that the original “All Quiet on the Western Front” may not be easily accessible via major streaming subscriptions (though available to buy on Google Play, Apple TV and Amazon Prime, and available to stream or download for free via The Internet Archive), Netflix’s new remake does a fine job in standing on the shoulders of the giant that came before it.

“All Quiet on the Western Front”, just released on the streaming platform, reimagines this harrowing masterpiece for a new era.

For those who aren’t familiar with the source material, it’s the story of a 17-year-old German boy who enlists for service in World War I with dreams of becoming a hero for his country. 

Those romanticised delusions not only unravel during the rigorous and brutal training he’s put through, but they’re then utterly torn apart by the chaos of the trenches he’s sent to.

The film was based on the 1929 book of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, who himself was a German veteran of World War I.

When published it took the world by storm. It sold two and a half million copies in 22 different languages in its first 18 months of release alone.

In the author’s own words he wanted his controversial polemic to be a spokesman for a generation “destroyed by war, even though it might have escaped its shells”.

It is no surprise that it became one of the first books to be publicly burnt by the Nazi Party. They would also ban the distribution of the film once they took power just three years after its release.

Indeed the film pulled no punches in its condemnation of the lies that were sold to boys on the cusp of manhood who wanted to serve their country.

It included some of the most graphic and horrifying depictions of battle for its time. No, it’s not as bloody as what audiences are exposed to today, but even now the film still has the ability to leave audiences in a disturbed stupor.

While the newest remake tweaks the story here and there, the broad brushstrokes remain the same. It, too, wants to capture that same shock value in telling its story.

However, in an era where audiences have become more desensitised to on-screen violence, “All Quiet on the Western Front” uses other means to confront its audience.

Stunning cinematography captures the harrowing scale of trench warfare. The production value is impressively detailed and creates a remarkable air of realism.

When it all falls into place it offers one of those rare experiences where one can forget they’re watching a film.

It’s fitting for a story of such importance – the tragedy of young lives lost in the futility of conflict and one with an ending that is almost as shocking and revelatory as the original.

“All Quiet on the Western Front” may be a remake of a film that is now almost a century old and one about a conflict that is more than a century old, but this is one story that is as relevant as it’s ever been.