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PLOT: Stunning anti-war film is a fictionalized account of real events during WWI. On Christmas Eve, 1914, French, English and German soldiers in the trenches forgot they were at war for a moment and celebrated Christmas together.
Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) is a powerful anti-war movie that brings to life an incident from 90 years ago. At the beginning of World War I, trench warfare put French and English soldiers within earshot of the enemy. Only a few hundred yards separated them from the German trenches in some places on the Western Front. The land in between was littered with the bodies of soldiers from both sides.
Joyeux Noel celebrates the events of December 24 and 25, 1914, when so-called enemy soldiers stepped out of those trenches to celebrate Christmas together.
The film begins with sweeping views of the countryside and a last glimpse of tranquil village life as two brothers in Scotland get the news that war has been declared. Their village priest (Gary Lewis) ends up going to war, too, as a stretcher bearer.
In France, meanwhile, a young lieutenant (Guillaume Canet) is physically sick before sending his men out of their trenches to attack the Germans.
On their side, the German soldiers can count a famous opera singer named Sprink (Beno Furmann) among their number; he and his wife, Danish soprano Anna Sorensen (Diane Kruger) will later create the music that's a catalyst for a Christmas cease-fire.
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The story in Joyeux Noel moves back and forth among the various troops, layering detail to make the soldiers human. The French commander worries about his wife and child, for example, while the German commander is unhappy with Sprink, his opera singer soldier, and wants no artists among his troops.
As Christmas approaches, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II has Christmas trees sent to his troops in the trenches. Sprink is called away to give a concert with his wife on Christmas Eve, and when it ends she insists on going with him to the front lines.
Back in the trenches, Sprink and his wife sing for the German soldiers. The 'enemy' can clearly hear them -- and the Scots offer bagpipe accompaniment. Before long, united by hearing the Christmas carols they all know well, the soldiers leave the safety of the trenches to gather in no-man's-land and celebrate together. They trade drinks and chocolate and show each other photos from home. The Scottish minister says a mass in Latin.
The cease fire is extended so that each side can claim and bury its dead. After that, the men can no longer fight against one another.
And they are punished for that.
Writer/director Christian Carion has embroidered the details, but it's true that this fraternization with the enemy was considered a big scandal at the time. The military on both sides attempted to keep the events secret.
When Joyeux Noel was shown at Cannes, it was met with a 20 minute standing ovation. The film had an Oscar nomination this year (for best foreign film), and dozens of other awards and recognitions.
Joyeux Noel is in English, French and German.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a heartbreaking anti-war movie. And for its depiction of a certain innocence and civility in human affairs that is gone forever, Joyeux Noel is just the sort of movie that makes grown men cry. Women, too.
Just so you know to bring Kleenex.
(This film is rated 14-A)