All Quiet on the Western Front, an anti-war drama based on the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque by German director Edward Berger, was nominated for an Academy Award in nine categories at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. How many of them will be able to get the film, it will be known on March 13. Prior to this, the picture has already become a winner in seven nominations of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).
The award in the category “Best Soundtrack” went to the German composer Volker Bertelmann, better known by his stage name Hauschka. In an interview with DW, the musician spoke about what was the most difficult thing in working on the score for the film, why the main musical theme was played on his great-grandmother’s vintage harmonium, and what, in his opinion, is the reason for such wide international recognition of the film.
DW: You were nominated for an Oscar for the score for All Quiet on the Western Front. This is your second nomination, the first was in 2017 for the film “Lion”. What do these nominations mean to you?
Volker Bertelman: The nominations are something special in and of themselves. Thanks to them, you meet people who, perhaps, work on the same level as you or do very interesting projects. These nominations allow you to meet people you consider great, such as John Williams. And then, they suddenly look at you in a completely different way, because you suddenly find yourself surrounded by people who simply belong to the world elite in the field they are engaged in. For me, this is a great honor. In 2017, this came as a surprise to me, and then I thought: such a chance falls only once in a lifetime. But now he introduced himself to me again.
– You wrote music for almost 30 films. How do you decide whether to work on a project or not?
– I think it depends on what stage of your career you are – as a musician or as a film composer. If you are just starting out, you will generally accept all offers. You want to gain experience, you want to have a job – so you agree and only then read the script. The more successful you become, the more choices you have. In recent years, I have decided to write music for films that are about what interests me and that are masterfully done.
– You have worked with film director Edward Berger before – you wrote music for the TV series “Your Honor” and “Patrick Melrose” shot by him. What was your first thought when he asked you to compose the score for the film “On the Western Front Bes change”?
– The first thought was: “It is necessary to write!” Second: “But how?!” Because, firstly, “All Quiet on the Western Front” is such a book that you immediately understand that the fact that it will be filmed in Germany is a historical event, because so far there have been only American film adaptations. Secondly, it was necessary to think about how to tell people the history of Germany, related to the war, in such a way that they would be able to form their own impression of the film and find opportunities for interpretation on their own, and not push them to some point of view. .
– Did you write music at the stage of making the film or after it was filmed and edited?
– I joined the work on the film very late. It was already finished, I was invited to Berlin for a screening, and the film was so amazing that it became clear to me that it would be something special. The next day I wrote the first theme that plays at the beginning of the film, this piece of music with three notes at the beginning. To be honest, I wasn’t very sure what happened. And I sent the subject to Edward Berger. Usually the director is not sent the first idea, but collects ten or fifteen before deciding that there is enough material to choose from. But in this case, I sent it anyway, because it seemed very clear and strong to me, and I wanted to know if he would agree with me. The next day he called me and was just elated: “Amazing! This is so cool! I’m so happy, this is exactly what we need!” And then it became clear to me – this topic can be developed further.
– You wrote very minimalistic, yet very expressive and scary music. It hits the nerves and enhances the horror of those monstrous shots that the viewer sees on the screen. How did you decide what the music score for this film should be?
– The idea came to me after I saw the first 10 minutes of the film, which talks about the history of the soldier’s uniform – it was like a collage of images strung on top of each other. No text, you just see how the soldiers are drawn into the war, they die, and then they take off their uniforms, wash them, send them to the factory, they clean them, then they bring them to the workshop with sewing machines, where they fix them and sew tags on them with new names. For me, it was a symbol of the war machine that dehumanizes the people involved in the war. People suddenly became material. And I decided that the music should sound in unison with this military machine, with these sewing machines. And the only way to do that is to take a short, small, virtually iconic theme and let it play over and over again, so it’s kind of like an art installation.
And I also thought about the fact that these five young people who go to war, in a relatively short time, lose everything they dreamed about and lived for. Everything that actually makes them human. And yet they still have moments when they hold a woman’s scarf in their hands or see a poster with a picture of a woman. In the film, women tend to symbolize what these boys look forward to, what gives them a sense of normalcy. So there is still hope. And I felt that in addition to the powerful sound of the war machine, a religious theme was needed, talking about the time that a person has on earth.
– I read that you played the main musical theme, which is repeated throughout the film, on your great-grandmother’s harmonium.
– Somewhere a little over a year ago, they called me from home and said that there is a harmonium that belongs to our family. I looked at the instrument and immediately said that I would take it. Then I found out that in Düsseldorf there is a person who restores old harmoniums – there are very few such specialists now. He restored my harmonium and it was in my studio.
After seeing the film for the first time in Berlin, I thought it would be great if the film didn’t have a synthesizer or some other modern instrument that makes the audience feel, “Yes, this is a modern film.” I thought that I would like to set the film to music created with the instrument of the time, which, moreover, works like a machine.
When I examined my harmonium, I realized that something could come of it, because it has bellows, there is air inside it, and when you play it, you hear wood. And then I played the first passage of the main theme on it, and distorted the sound of the harmonium. I put it through a distorter and an amplifier, and the sound is so dynamic and powerful that when you hear it, you don’t even know what instrument it’s being played on. And I think it turned out really great.
What was the hardest part of the job for you?
– The most difficult thing was not to put too much pathos and too much heroism into the music. So that you can distance yourself every time you want to plunge into the suffering of a soldier. For a composer, this is the area where you immediately start writing sad, melancholy melodies, and it was very difficult for me, but it is incredibly important to allow me to keep a distance – so that the music reaches the heart, but without excessive pathos.
– The film won seven BAFTA nominations and was nominated in nine Oscar categories. German cinema has never known such success. What, in your opinion, is the reason for such wide international recognition?
– I think the point is that the film gives the audience the opportunity to form their own picture of what is happening. And also because of current events, of course. People have a very clear idea of what war means. And when it goes very close to home, it is something different than when the war is 15,000 kilometers away somewhere else. This, of course, also played a role. Although it could be the other way around, and people could say they don’t want to watch a movie about the war. But the film resonated. At some point, several factors converged at one point: the current time, a strong script and a strong work in general. It seems to me that it is this combination that led to the fact that the vast majority appreciated the film so highly.