All Quiet on the Western Front has received a considerable amount of love ever since it was released on Netflix in October, as Variety reports that the film has surpassed the mark of 150 million hours in accumulated viewership. Edward Berger's anti-war epic tells the story of the young Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), who enlists in the Imperial German Army alongside his friends after listening to authority figures from his life telling them that going to war would make them heroes, and that it would be the right thing to do. When the teenagers get to the battlefront, they discover the horrifying realities of an armed conflict.
When you take into account that the film's runtime is 147 minutes, the film's viewership numbers equal the amount of time it would take for the movie to be watched in its entirety more than a million times. Of course, that might not specifically be case, due to how the number also includes people who only watched portions of the film without getting to its ending. Despite not knowing with precision just how many times the movie was played from its first shot, all the way to the credits, 150 million minutes of screen time is still a very impressive number, and a testament to the quality of the film.
In a recent interview with Collider, Berger spoke about how he wanted to visually illustrate the themes of the movie with physical objects, such as the scarf that is seen throughout the story. The director also expressed his praise for the 1929 novel of the same name that served as an inspiration for the film, and how it was important to preserve the essence of the book. That essence, of course, being how war corrupts the innocence that comes with youth, and how millions of lives were sadly lost during the years of fighting.
The Academy Awards Ceremony Is Right Around The Corner
The film earned 9 Academy Awards nomination this year, including major categories such as Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. The movie's soundtrack was in charge of German pianist Volker Bertlemann, who records music under the stage name Hauschka. Berterlmann is no stranger to working on award-nominated films, as she also worked on the music for Lion. It remains to be seen just how many awards All Quiet on the Western Front can take home when the Academy Awards ceremony takes place on Sunday, March 12.
All Quiet on the Western Front is now available to stream on Netflix.