Joyeux Noel (Widescreen)
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Movie Reviews of Joyeux Noel (Widescreen)
Movie Review: The Christmas Truce
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read a book some years ago concerning the Christmas truce of 1914. I was uncertain if the magic of the moment when enemy troops meet in No Man's Land would meet my expectations of reading about that even but I was more than satisfied. Director Christian Carion has taken great care in bring true events faithfully to the screen. In some cases, he slightly changed events but everything in his film happened at one time or another. For example, women did visit the trenches so what Diane Kruger's character does by coming to stay with her husband is not fiction. Also, there was an incident where a cat traveled between the lines that happened later in the war. My favorite scene from the film is when Benno Furmann (who plays Sprink) sings Silent Night and gradually walks into No Man's Land holding one of the small Christmas trees given to the German troops.
Joyeux Noel begins with children from Britain, France and Germany reciting actual propaganda that had been taught to them on how to hate their enemies, which is echoed at the end of the film when an Anglican Bishop (played by Ian Richardson) delivers a sermon to British troops about to engage the Germans on what a savage and cruel race they are and how they must all be killed. However, when German, British (represented by a Scottish regiment) and French soldiers meet each other there is a break down of indoctrination and they accept each other as fellow human beings; hey trade items and look at pictures of their wives and even play football. The film has been accused of being overly sentimental but the events depicted are pretty much as they happened; some have commented that No Man's Land is too clean but this was still early in the war and the land between the trenches was to become far worse.
The casting and performances are excellent. Gary Lewis, who is best know from Gangs of New York and Billy Elliot, is marvelous as a Scottish village priest who volunteered to come to France to serve his parishioners who went to war. My wife, who knew nothing about the Christmas truce, was drawn to the film and the message that what separates soldiers in time of war are pre-conceived notions that our enemy is evil, until we meet him.
Movie Review: Excellent Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I have cried with this movie. I have read a few criticisms of this nice production based on what their critics call "historical inaccuracy." For historical accuracy, one goes to the library; not the theater. The movie reflects historical facts (fraternization of entire units) with more than acceptable veracity, though I grant that the plot yields somewhat to the needs of entertainment. History is not distorted here but somewhat adorned. That is valid in cinema.
Fraternization of entire units was a unique event that occurred in the Western Front during the first six months of the war. As far as I know, it only took place between British and German (non-Prussian) troops. Some areas of Northern Germany, in particular Hannover, had belonged to the English Monarchs until the 1700's. Britain and Germany had never been at war. So there was very little animosity between British and Germans.
Most of the cases of friendly contact between British and German units were initiated by officers who, in 1914, still perceived the war as a conflict between gentlemen.
I have never seen any mention of fraternization at the unit level between French and Germans anywhere. The French went to war in 1914 with fury, filled with the desire for "revanche" after the debacle of 1870, the siege of Paris, and their loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. There was a tremendous animosity between the two nations. In plain English, they hated each other.
All notions of chivalry disappeared everywhere after the carnage of the Battle of the Somme River in 1915.
As a note, the next abundant case of widespread fraternization happened in the Eastern Front in 1917-1918 as Russian soldiers, infected with Bolshevism, stopped fighting and came across the lines to fraternize with working class (many of them Social Democrat) German soldiers and Austro-Hungarian soldiers of Slavic decent. The major difference here was that officers were for the most part opposed to the fraternization and that, at least on the Russian side, they were often shot by their men.
Movie Review: Europe's Christian and Musical Roots, then and now
Summary: 5 Stars
Watching this delightful, deep and orginal movie I suddenly realized why John Paul II was so disappointed when the European Constitution failed to mention Christianity as one of the founding pillars of Europe.
Based on a true episode that took place on Christmas Eve of 1914 (and probably was repeated in other similar occasions) along the Western Front in France, Christian Carion builds up a Christmas tale that signals out the common ideals and beliefs of British (Scots), French and German soldiers.
In the hell of opposing trenches a Christmas chant awakens longing, sadness and expecially friendship among allied Scots and French and their German enemies. Due to the great chivalitry of the troup comanders, that each in his own way represents the best of their cultures, a friendly truce takes place and continues during the following days, until the leading authorities (generals, bishops and fathers) discover what is considered the worse possible form of treason, "fraternization"!
The moving and supremely inspiring moment of the movie is the Mass, officiated by a Scottish clergyman (Gary Lewis), during which the "Ave Maria" is sung, but music intended as an emotional force, like the Christian ideals that then governed society, are present and at work all the time.
All the characters are very well etched and the actors are appropriately chosen. There are many marginal episodes that give a flavour of simple and suffering humanity, that however doesn't loose its dignity or sense of humor.
Revisionism of WWI historiography has been going on now for sometime, and the current opinion of the mass massacre wanted by economical/national powers is now well accepted. This movie does not dwell on such a modern concept, but somehow is born not only from this modern idea of history but also from the construction of a united European Nation.
Carion describes a beautiful and maybe sentimental episode but goes deep into its genesis and meaning, making this way a miliary movie that enriches young and old.
Movie Review: Friendly enemies
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best "anti-war" movie I have ever seen. But in a good way. Normally I don't care for movies that try to tell me how horrible war is. How stupid do they think people are? "It is bad when people are killed" or "war is horrible" the movies tell us. Oh really? Well thank you Captain Obvious. "Joyeux Noel" takes an entirely different approach.
Would you want to kill someone with whom you had shared a glass of champagne just minutes earlier? Would you want to kill someone who had been on your soccer team just minutes earlier? Would you want to kill someone who had just given you a chocolate bar and returned your lost wallet? When was the last time you heard questions like that asked in a war movie. I'm going to bet never.
This movie is the true story about the Christmas truce in December of 1914. The Scots, The French and the Germans all laid down arms Christmas eve and Christmas day. It started out with each side singing Christmas carols and ended up with the soldiers on all sides joining on the battlefield to exchange food and drink, play cards, play soccer, and on and on.
You know how when you are traveling and you meet someone who is from your hometown, or you meet someone who is friends with one of your friends, there is this almost instant bond created? That's what this movie is all about. Its about soldiers coming face to face with "the enemy" and finding friends. The ultimate "anti-war" sentiment lies in knowing that under different circumstances you would be good friends with the people you are trying to kill.
One of the more interesting (and sad) parts of the movie is how the war officials on all sides responded to the Christmas truce. But you'll have to watch the movie yourself to see what happened.
There is not much action or violence in this movie; if that is what you are looking for you should go somewhere else. You should see this movie. It is one of the more powerful movies I have seen in the last several years.
My rating: 5 out of 5
Movie Review: Christmas Faith Prevails Over War
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is the best "stocking stuffer" to come along in a long time! Open your presents and enjoy your Christmas dinner. Then, if you want to understand one reason we celebrate the day "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son," sit down and watch this movie.
Told in the three languages of the soldiers who fought and died in what was supposed to be The War to End All Wars, "Joyeux Noel" brilliantly shows how the desire to worship and celebrate the birth of Christ transcended their orders to fight.
The wonder of the true story of the Christmas Truce was as not so much the fact that the soldiers in the field took it upon themselves to call for the ceasefire, but how their common faith, inspired by the gift of music, motivated them to lay down their arms and observe "peace on earth and good will toward men." It would be one thing if a brief truce happened in only an isolated location, but when we realize that this episode occurred all along the Western Front, one must recognize that this event was one of the world's true Christmas Miracles.
While the movie plays against the carnage of the first world wide war, the story's heart, humor and human drama are felt when we see the toll the fighting takes in the lives of the infantry, their officer's, a godly priest and their loved ones. Even the irony found in the story of the (unfortunate) cat who trespassed enemy lines on a regular basis serves as a judgment upon the leaders who use God's name to justify waging a political war of choice.
In addition to the movie itself, it is well worth taking the time to watch the special feature interview with writer/director Christian Carion. The only note of caution is that the stories of sensual love and real bloodshed in wartime are told sensitively, but realistically. Those aspects of the movie may not be suitable for younger teens and pre-teen viewers.