Netflix epic All Quiet on the Western Front’s surprise sweep of BAFTAs

The biggest and most dominant winner of the BAFTAs is a movie that few have even heard of.

All Quiet on the Western Front won seven BAFTAs. Picture: Netflix

A German Netflix war epic has emerged as the surprise winner at the BAFTA Awards, taking home seven gongs including Best Picture.

All Quiet on the Western Front, an anti-war movie set during World War I, also picked up Best Director for Edward Berger, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Not in the English Language, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound.

The film went into the BAFTAs with the most nominations at 14 but its triumph here still comes as a shock, winning over higher profile nominees such as Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Banshees of Inisherin.

The film was released on Netflix in October and only gained wider notice after it dominated BAFTA nominations a month ago.

All Quiet on the Western Front is streaming now. Picture: Netflix

The movie is based on Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 book and tracks the journey of an idealistic young German soldier as he’s confronted with the brutalities of the front. A previous adaptation of Remarque’s book won the Best Picture Oscar in 1930.

All Quiet on the Western Front producer Malte Grunert said while collecting the Best Picture BAFTA, “We grew up with the sense of responsibility to tell this story and a deep urge to tell this story, and you accepted it with such open arms and with such overwhelming love. We are completely humbled. Thank you so much for that honour.”

While the BAFTAs often make different choices to their American counterparts, there is a crossover between the two voting bodies and it could be an indication of where the Oscars might go. All Quiet on the Western Front has been nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture.

If it takes the Best Picture Oscar, it would become only the second non-English language movie to win the highest award, following French silent film The Artist in 2012 and Korean satirical thriller Parasite in 2020.

The Banshees of Inisherin won Best British Film. Picture: Jonathan Hession/Searchlight

The Banshees of Inisherin won four awards – Best Supporting Actor for Barry Keoghan, Best Supporting Actress for Kerry Condon, Best Original Screenplay for Martin McDonagh and Best British Film.

While The Banshees of Inisherin is an Irish production, co-financing from UK’s Channel 4 made it eligible for the category.

Cate Blanchett picked up Best Actress for her tour de force performance in Tar, boosting her chances of winning her third Oscar, where she is inching in front of her main rival Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Michelle Yeoh.

Austin Butler added to his trophy case with a Best Actor for portraying Elvis Presley. In accepting the award, Butler paid tribute to the Presley family, who lost Lisa Marie Presley when she died last month. He said, “I want to thank the Presley family, I cannot thank you enough for your love. I hope I’ve made you proud.”

Elvis also won Best Casting, Best Costume Design and Best Make-up and Hair.

Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress BAFTA. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

Austin Bustler was awarded for his work in Elvis. Picture: Justin Tallis/AFP

Guillermo del Toro won Best Animated Film for Pinocchio while the Navalny documentary was victorious in its category. Production Design went to Babylon and Avatar: The Way of Water picked up the Special Visual Effects gong.

Leading Oscars contender Everything Everywhere All At Once only picked up one award – Best Editing – out of its 10 nominations.

Writer and director Charlotte Wells won the Outstanding British Debut award for her semibiographical feature Aftersun.

Emma Mackey won the Rising Star Award, which is voted on by the public.

Originally published as Netflix epic All Quiet on the Western Front’s surprise sweep of BAFTAs