After “The Lives of Others” from 2006, “Nothing New in the West” managed to bring the Oscar to Germany again. Why Edward Berger’s anti-war film is so popular not only with viewers but also with critics becomes even clearer when you look at the Academy Awards, which has “Nothing New in the West” in addition to the prize for the best international film. There were also prizes for Best Camera, Best Film Music and Best Production Design.
Yes, “Nothing New in the West” is a brutally staged war epic that proves absolutely competitive with American productions. On a technical (but also acting) level, Edward Berger has succeeded in creating an elementary visual experience that makes the chaos in the trenches of the First World War, surrounded by hail of bullets, almost physically tangible. One can criticize the fact that this also gives the film a certain spectacle character. Nevertheless, the result is impressive.
A must for all “Nothing New in the West” fans
If you’ve seen “Nothing New in the West” and now want to immerse yourself even more in the war film genre, here’s a very special tip: “Stalingradfrom 1993. This isn’t just a German production, which really brought out the big guns for its time in terms of engineering effort and obsession with detail. Director Joseph Vilsmaier (“Schlafes Bruder”) is also thematically close to “Nothing New in the West” with “Stalingrad”. It is about the horror of war, the priceless value of true camaraderie and the condemnation of stupid militarism.
Haven’t seen “Stalingrad” yet? Then you can watch the war film directly on Amazon Prime Video, where it can be purchased in the paid purchase and rental version for fairly small thalers. Alternatively, you can of course also switch to the Blu-ray or the 4K version of the film, which guarantees you a perfect home cinema experience for more than 140 minutes thanks to the digital revision and the newly sampled sound design.
That’s what “Stalingrad” is about
Eastern Front, in the winter of 1942: The 6th Army with almost 600,000 men is surrounded in the completely bombed city of Stalingrad. Temperatures drop to minus 50 degrees at times. The battle for survival has begun for Fritz (Dominique Horwitz), Hans (Thomas Kretschmann), Rollo (Jochen Nickel) and GeGe (Sebastian Rudolph). rain of bullets and Stalin organs are just part of the absolute horror.
Most men here lose the battle against hunger and cold. The leader’s perseverance slogans gradually lose their meaning, as everything they once believed in collapses before their eyes, until in the end there is only one wish: to finally be released from their suffering…
An experience that gets under your skin
Even though “Stalingrad” isn’t as powerful as “Nothing New in the West” when it comes to staging, Joseph Vilsmaier manages to get the audience involved from the start. impressive backgrounds and quite powerfully staged battle sequences to tie. It is important that “Stalingrad” attaches importance every second to viewing the war scenario with a thoroughly critical, negative attitude. Militarism and fascism are deconstructed here until nothing remains but empty phrases and dead bodies.
“Stalingrad” makes the horror of war clear not only through audio-visual power, but comes first and foremost at the character level. The dynamic between Fritz, Hans, Manfred and GeGe is at the heart of the film and is similar to the relationship between Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), Stanislaus Katczinsky (Albrecht Schuch) and Co., who ultimately belong to them in the story of ” Nothing new in the West”. emotional, tragic depth. Dominique Horwitz in particular stands out as Fritz as an actor, because in him the transformation from impeccable patriot to war-damned is most clearly (and most painfully) expressed.
And even if “Stalingrad” is by no means the most subtle representative of its genre and technically follows well-known paths, Joseph Vilsmaier proves to be extremely effective and ruthless, at least in this country, a classic among advanced war films. The focus is on the essence: the icy hell of Stalingrad, in which the soldiers finally don’t care whether they somehow make it out of Russia alive. It’s all about the horror finally ending. There are no winners in Stalingrad.