TO HELL AND BACK (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT)

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Just when you thought the definitive First World War movie had been made, along comes another.

Edward Berger's 'All Quiet On The Western Front' is the third adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's classic 1929 novel about German soldiers on the front.

The first in 1930 by Lewis Milestone became the first Hollywood movie to win Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars and was the first adaptation of a novel to take the top prize.

The second in 1979 was a CBS TV movie directed by Delbert Mann with Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasance and Ian Holm which won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Made for Television.

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Berger's version for Netflix is the first to be adapted in its original language.

Not surprisingly, it is a muddy, bloody and emotionally draining affair.

Felix Kammerer is Paul Baumer, the 17 year old hero of Remarque's novel who fakes his parents' signature to enlist with his friends in the Army.

Aaron Hilmer's Albert Kropp, Moritz Klaus's Franz Muller and Adrian Grunewald's Ludwig Behm are giddy at the prospect of fighting for their Fatherland.

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Along with their fellow recruits, they naively roar with excitement as they listen to a rousing speech about German troops marching on Paris.

In reality, they are being used as cannon fodder, with Paul being duped into receiving a uniform which was once worn by a dead soldier.

It doesn't take long for the boys to be disabused of their romantic notions of war.

Harangued by their corporal as they head to the front, they are thrust into the trenches and put on sentry duty, with Paul's helmet being struck by an enemy bullet.

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On the first night, they are shelled and Ludwig is killed, with Paul being ordered to collect all the name tags of the dead.

The lads are befriended by Albrecht Schruch's Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky and Edin Hasanovic's Tjaden Stackfleet.

But exposed to the horrors of going over the trenches, it becomes very clear to Paul and his friends that fighting in the war is very much a survival act.

While they experience the horrors of combat, grabbing whatever food they can, corpulent generals like Devid Striesow's General Friedrichs fine dine as they send soldiers to their deaths.

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Friedrichs is incensed that Daniel Bruhl's Finance Minister Matthias Erzberger is negotiating an armistice with the French military and rails against the Social Democrats.

Erzberger is, however, appalled by the senseless slaughter and compelled to negotiate a truce with Thibault de Montalembert's General Ferdinand Foch and his French military comrades, even as they play hardball.

As all this unfolds, Berger and his fellow screenwriters Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson jump effortlessly between the two worlds with the comfort of the politicians and military leaderships standing in stark contrast to the harsh reality experienced by German and French soldiers on the battlefield.

They do not shy away from the savagery of the battlefield and the trauma, with James Friend's cinematography deploying the full bag of tricks to ram home the sheer cruelty of it all.

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Hand held cameras, drone shots and tracking shots convey the desperate conditions the infantry have to operate in and the magnitude of the slaughter.

However Berger is also blessed with a cast that immediately engages our sympathy.

Kammerer is terrific as Paul, physically transforming from a gung ho teenager to an emotionally drained and battle weary footsoldier.

It's a performance that seems like the German cousin of George Mackay's Corporal Will Scofield in Sam Mendes' equally stirring '1917,' with Kammerer sharing the same range of emotions as the Anglo Australian actor.

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Schruch is hugely impressive as well as Stanislaus "Kat" Katczinsky, showing the kind of rough hewn charm and dedication that Tom Hardy often brings to the screen.

Bruhl excels as Erzberger, bringing a different kind of empathy to his role away from the battlefield, while Striesow hints at the fascism to come with his blustering performance as General Friedrichs.

Berger has delivered a bone chilling adaptation of Remarque's novel.

Technically, this version of 'All Quiet On The Western Front' is a tour de force - a phrase a critic should never bandy about easily.

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However on every level it is the equal of '1917' - a must watch even if it is at times a bit difficult.

Beautifully shot and impressively told, don't be surprised if it sneaks into several categories beyond Best Foreign Language Feature at next year's Academy Awards.

('All Quiet On The Western Front' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on October 14, 2022 and was made available for streaming on Netflix on October 28, 2022)