All Quiet on the Western Front had to face some tough competition at this year’s BAFTAs, but that didn’t stop it from picking up the top prizes. The German anti-war drama pulled a major upset at this year’s BAFTAs and won a total of seven awards, including the best picture.
Seeing All Quiet defeat some of the front-runners in this year’s Oscar race doesn’t come as a shocker because BAFTA voters have given it a lot of love from the very start. This film made history as the most-nominated non-English language film in BAFTA’s history, along with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, when it received a total of 14 nods.
All Quiet managed to live up to the hype and defeated the likes of The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Tár to be named the best film. As if that wasn’t enough, it also managed to come out victorious in six more categories – best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best original score, best sound, and best film not in the English language.
What does All Quiet’s victory means in the grand scheme of things and did it improve its Oscar chances? BAFTAs always had the tendency to march to the beat of their own drum, so it’s unlikely this will change much. All Quiet has been a lock from the best international film from the get-go and it could pull an upset in technical categories at the Oscars, but its chances in the main field remain slim—even after the BAFTA’s success.
The 76th British Academy Film Awards took place on February 19, and the list of major winners also included The Banshees of Inisherin and Elvis, with four trophies each.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE 2023 BAFTA AWARDS:
BEST FILM
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Malte Grunert
LEADING ACTRESS
CATE BLANCHETT; Tár
LEADING ACTOR
AUSTIN BUTLER; Elvis
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
EMMA MACKEY
MAKE UP & HAIR
ELVIS; Jason Baird, Mark Coulier, Louise Coulston, Shane Thomas
DIRECTOR
EDWARD BERGER; All Quiet on the Western Front
PRODUCTION DESIGN
BABYLON; Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN; Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE; Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy, Cara Speller, Hannah Minghella
BRITISH SHORT FILM
AN IRISH GOODBYE; Tom Berkeley, Ross White
COSTUME DESIGN
ELVIS; Catherine Martin
SOUND
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Lars Ginzsel, Frank Kruse, Viktor Prášil, Markus Stemler
ORIGINAL SCORE
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Volker Bertelmann
DOCUMENTARY
NAVALNY; Daniel Roher, Diane Becker, Shane Boris, Melanie Miller, Odessa Rae
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER; Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN; Martin McDonagh
ANIMATED FILM
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO; Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
AFTERSUN; Charlotte Wells (Writer/Director)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; James Friend
EDITING
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE; Paul Rogers
CASTING
ELVIS; Nikki Barrett, Denise Chamian
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Edward Berger, Malte Grunert
SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARRY KEOGHAN; The Banshees of Inisherin
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
KERRY CONDON; The Banshees of Inisherin
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell