Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a brutal depiction of war, unrelenting and bleak, that never allow viewers to settle into the comfortable or familiar spectacle of violence. This is a film that constantly finds ways to complicate and humanize enemy soldiers so that the killing is never easy, it always comes at an emotional and spiritual cost to the characters we follow through the narrative – as well as ourselves. Because the film is so brutal throughout and places us so often in close point of view of soldiers at the front, it can come across as emotionally cold and distant, giving itself over to dread and terror more than the sadness and grief over all these wasted lives. Still, that’s preferable to the often mawkish and overly sentimental depictions of war and combat that we’re often presented in cinema. The true villains of the film aren’t enemy soldiers, but the generals and powers-that-be sending these young men off to die – depicted as grotesque, out-of-touch, blinded by the safety and security of their opulence and privilege. The sound design here is exquisite and essential to enveloping us in the terror of battle, contrasting it with the quiet times in between. This is a magnificent film – hard and challenging, but a powerful statement on the cruelty of war.