Netflix and Capelight Pictures are collaborating to bring Edward Berger’s haunting anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front to home theaters in the highest quality possible through a Limited Collector’s Edition release of the film. The two-disc mediabook release comes with a standard HD Blu-ray as well as a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray for the highest quality viewing in the original German audio utilizing Dolby Atmos audio of the original and 4K Dolby Vision image. Pre-orders are open now ahead of the special edition’s release on March 28.
In addition to the two discs, the mediabook packaging also includes an exclusive 24-page booklet full of background information and conversations about how the film was made. A conversation with Berger, titled “Sharing the German Perspective,” is included inside as well as an extensive interview with historian and professor Daniel Schönpflug titled “A Machine of Death Unlike Any Experienced Before” which explores the history behind All Quiet on the Western Front. Berger notably conducted heavy research to add extra context to the original novel, especially when it came to the peace treaty discussions which included a historical figure in Matthias Erzberger. The book should give extra insight into Berger’s thought process when it came to portraying the suffering of young German soldiers intertwined with the finer facts of the end of WWI.
Based on the legendary anti-war novel by Erich Maria Remarch, the film follows 17-year-old Paul Bäumer, played by Felix Kammerer in a remarkable film debut, and his friends as they giddily head off to war in 1917 filled with hopes of swiftly vanquishing the French army for the Fatherland and marching into Paris as heroes and victors. Reality sets in when they reach the Western Front days later. Stuck in the swamp-like trenches, they face merciless bombardments from the French and are forced to fight for their lives while their comrades die around them. Berger, along with screenplay co-writers Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson, paints a tragic picture of how nations stoke enthusiasm for war among their youth only for the soldiers to realize too late the true horror that awaits on the battlefield.
