So this is Christmas

Review by Vives Anunciacion
Inquirer Libre

Joyeux Noël/ Merry Christmas
Written and Directed by Christian Carion
Starring Benno Fürmann, Diane Kruger, Guillaume Canet
PG 13/ 115 minutes
Nord-Ouest / Senator Film/ Artemis/ TF1
English Subtitles

“War is over, if you want it”
- Happy Xmas (War is Over), John Lennon

It was known as the Christmas Truce of 1914, a few months into World War 1, when hundreds of French, Scottish and Belgian soldiers left their posts and peacefully mingled with their German opponents on Christmas Day in the northern borders of Flanders, France. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) revisits that miraculous moment 90 years ago when goodwill was shared among the weary souls of men.

Tenor Nikolaus Sprink (German actor Benno Fürmann) leaves the opera behind when he is drafted to serve the German army. His wife and fellow opera singer Anna Sörensen (played by German-born Diane Kruger, from Troy) abuses her aristocratic title in order to save Sprink from being sent to the trenches.

Father Palmer (Gary Lewis, the dad in Billy Elliot) becomes a medic and a morale booster for the Scottish troops on the British side. Lieutenant Audebert, (Guillaume Canet, previously in The Beach) leads the French contingent in that area of Belgian France. Audebert’s wife is about to give birth to their first child, he would rather stay home like any soldier wished.

Finally on the German side, Lieutenant Horstmayer (Daniel Brühl, Goodbye Lenin!) would rather have the war done and over with, even if it means putting up the Christmas trees sent by the Kaiser to the deployed troops.

On the night before Christmas 1914, Sprink bursts into singing while the British respond with bagpipes. Officers of each contingent find themselves outside their trenches discussing ceasefire. Where there should have been war, the soldiers converge in No Man’s Land and begin to shake hands, exchange stories, distribute chocolates, cigarettes and wine amongst themselves. In a strange turn of events, three warring sides attend together an impromptu mass held under the cold December sky. In the morning of Christmas, they play football and bury their dead.

Far from war epics and war dramas (like All Quiet in the Western Front, Saving Private Ryan or even the French A Very Long Engagement), Joyeux Noël poignantly retells the Christmas day truce of 1914 from different sides. Told with simplicity and underhandedness that prefers to preserve the bonds created by the fraternizing soldiers instead of overemphasizing the difficulties of the soldiers in the trenches, Joyeux Noël demonstrates the achievability of the universal desire for peace.

There are no specific bidas, no outright central character buildup in Joyeux Noël. Except for the singing, which could have felt deeper if the actors themselves sang them, acting is elegant and sufficient. Joyeux Noël is not exactly plot driven either – there’s barely a climax to a seemingly loose story. Every so often French filmmakers throw away conventional narrative and present a simple story without any frills, without forgetting historical subtext or contemporary context. No wonder Joyeux Noël is the French entry to next year’s Oscars.

What it does have is a very powerful message against the pointlessness of war but at the same time give testament to the spirit of brotherhood.

Christmas songs usually search for peace on earth and goodwill towards men. Ninety years ago in Europe, hundreds of unnamed soldiers proved it can be done.