`All Quiet' wins big at the BAFTAs
In a shock to this year's awards season, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a German-language movie set in the trenches of World War I, was the big winner at the British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards in London on Sunday night.
The Netflix movie was named best picture at the awards, commonly known as the BAFTAs. The antiwar film beat four higherprofile titles, including “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a sci-fi adventure starring Michelle Yeoh, and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Martin McDonagh's dark comedy about the ending of a friendship on a small island.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” also beat Baz Luhrmann's “Elvis” biopic and “Tar,” Todd Field's drama about a conductor accused of sexual harassment.
Based on Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel of the same title, “All Quiet on the Western Front” won six other awards, including best director for Edward Berger, best adapted screenplay and best film not in the English language.
During the ceremony, Berger seemed overcome by the wins. While accepting the award for best adapted screenplay, he mentioned the movie's anti-war message and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“There are no heroes in any war,” he said.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” was expected to do well at the awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars. When the BAFTA nominations were announced last month, it secured 14 nods and tied with Ang Lee's 2000 action film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” for the highest number of nominations for a movie not in the English language.
British critics raved about the movie upon its release. Danny Leigh wrote in The Financial Times that Berger “expertly handled” the challenge facing any anti-war film: how to stop war from looking glamorous.
“Here, dawn quagmires lit by dots of orange flame and troops mad-eyed with animal fear register both as fine cinema and potent fury,” Leigh said.