Movie Review - Joyeux Noel

Rating: 8/10

To state the obvious, war is probably one of the hardest things to handle. Whether you're in the war, or have a loved one who is fighting, there's always that idea in your mind that something tragic could happen. This is what every soldier thinks of during these times. But what if, for one, magical day, you could stop fighting, and you could unite with those who you were trying to kill, and celebrate a bit? This took place on Christmas Eve of 1914 in the trenches where the Germans faced the British and the French. For a brief moment, the guns were put down and there was a cease-fire to observe the savior Jesus Christ.

Joyeux Noel presents us with the true events that took place during this cease-fire. While director Christian Carion may have taken some liberty to go a bit over the top, it doesn't change the important aspect that for a brief moment, the war didn't matter. Although with this cease-fire, he was also accurate in depicting what happened to the troops afterwards: Officers and troops were punished for their actions. The Scottish priest that held a sermon in No Man's Land was pretty much verbally abused by his bishop. This is what happens in war when you don't follow orders. You may do something good, but there will always be consequences.

Within the world of the film, we're introduced to several important characters that drive the story. At the beginning we meet two Scottish brothers who sign up for the war: Jonathan and William (Steven Robertson, Robin Laing). Their parish priest, Father Palmer (Gary Lewis) joins them in war as a stretcher bearer. The Scots are led by Lt. Gordon (Alex Ferns) who, indirectly, helps to begin the cease-fire. The Germans are led by Lt. Horstmayer (Daniel Bruhl) who is a Jewish German. A German tenor named Sprink (Benno Furmann) ends up leaving his life as an opera singer to serve his country. The French are led by Lt. Audebert (Guillaume Canet) who takes his orders from his father (Bernard Le Coq) who's in charge of the lines.

On Christmas Eve, the Danish singer Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger), who is invited to sing for the German's and the Crown Prince, insists on being taken to the front lines. She claims that she wants to sing for the ordinary troops who are fighting, but her main goal is to have the chance to see her lover, Sprink. When she reaches the front lines, she has Sprink get up and sing before his troops. At this moment, the Scots, who have bagpipes with them, begin to play Christmas tunes, and Sprink sings along with the tunes. With the sound of the singing, everyone begins to get up and take a look at what's going on, and within a few minutes, the weapons are down, and the music keeps going on, which eventually leads to a large mass.

I won't go into much more detail about the story since it's definitely something that should be witnessed. The film brings a sentimental side to the war genre, and it's something that's just so rare to see and it's done so beautifully. Just to see the relief on some of the faces of the soldiers, to know that they'll be able to live for at least another day, it's something so pure and so sincere. No one part of the film outdoes the other, and it strikes a balance that numerous films fail to achieve. 

If you're looking for a war film to watch, you may want to shy away from this one. There's still a pretty good amount of fighting, but this isn't the movie to watch if you're looking for an all out war where no one survives. If you're looking for something that'll give you that feeling in your heart that, no matter how shitty a situation could be for you, everything will turn out okay in some way, then this would be something to highly consider. I will also mention that the film does require you to read subtitles as there are several different languages spoken, so be prepared for that.