Merry Christmas to all those out there in blog world, and to all of you who log in to mine every week. For the occasion, I’ve found a good somewhat lesser-known Christmas film that touches upon the spirit of the season during wartime: Joyeux Noël. It’s supposedly based on a ceasefire that occurred on Christmas during WWI between the Scottish- I mean, British, French, and German sides. I’m not sure if this is the best Christmas film ever, obviously there are many contenders for that title, but I thought it was executed very well and was fair and balanced between the portrayals of each side (something that doesn’t always happen in the cinema world). So, let’s get into the story:
Joyeux Noël is essentially an ensemble film, so there isn’t really a “main character to speak of. However, there are notable ones that we spend most of the film focusing on. These include the young Scottish man Johnathan, his priest Father Palmer, the three lieutenants (Gordon for the Scots, Audebert for the French, and Horstmayer for the Germans), and the two singers Nikolaus and Anna. Johnathan and his brother William join up with the army, all gung-ho about fighting for their country. Their priest, Father Palmer, ends up joining the same unit as a chaplain, though he clearly has his doubts about the war. William is shot on the battlefield and is left lying on the ground by Jonathan, who panicked and fled in fear. His failure to save his brother carries with him throughout the film, both blaming himself as well as the Germans for his death. Nikolaus is a famous German singer who enjoyed great success in his home country, but ultimately ends up being drafted like so many others. Anna is a similarly famous Danish singer, and both she and Nikolaus are in a relationship. She is able to secure a spot singing for Prince Wilhelm, which Nikolaus joins her on. However, Nikolaus wants to go back to the front lines and sing for all the troops that are actually fighting the war, as opposed to the safe and secure generals, and Anna pushes to go along with him, to which he begrudgingly agrees. Lieutenant Auberet has had to leave his pregnant wife, who resides in the German-occupied France, in order to join the war effort, in which he’s under the headship of his higher-ranked father. On Christmas Eve, the Scottish trench starts singing folk songs, accompanied by Father Palmer on the bagpipe. When they finish, Nikolaus in the German trench begins singing Silent Night. The Scots hear this and start playing the bagpipes in conjunction with the singing. This leads to Nikolaus leaving the trench and presenting Father Palmer with a small Christmas tree. Because of this, the three lieutenants join the two men on the battlefield and agree to a ceasefire for Christmas Eve. The characters from each side all gather together and throw something of a Christmas party. Auberet and Horstmayer reminisce about France, which they both love very much and hope to be able to see again after the war (though Horstmayer comes at it from a “don’t worry, soon Germany will own France and everything will be great” perspective, which Auberet isn’t too keen). They also talk about Auberet’s wife, who Horstmayer saw a photo of in Auberet’s wallet, which had gotten lost in the German trench. Audebert asks him to take a letter to her when he gets back behind German lines, to which Horstmayer agrees. Father Palmer holds a mass for this “congregation”, during which Anna sings. Johnathan, on the other hand, is focused on guarding his brother’s body and grieving over him, clearly not happy about the supposed “truce” going on. His focus on grieving convinces the lieutenants to extend the truce through the next morning so that each side’s dead can be properly buried. The conflict between the growing fondness between the sides and their duties to their governments grows ever more strained as the film goes on, though I won’t tell you how it all ends up. Needless to say, it ends up similar to how you might expect, but some bonds will never truly be broken.
I’m not sure I have too much to say about this film specifically, but I just feel overall that this is a very well-done film. It does a good job of giving each side the screentime and focus they need to feel relatable and allows us to see how many normal people can get roped into a situation where they have to dehumanize others “for the greater good.” I felt a good amount of understanding towards each character, who, on their own, might have been a little basic, but in the context of the ensemble, that more straightforward quality helped to endear me to all of them. The film also does a good job of tempering the sentimentality and using it when necessary. In other cases, like this, with “a war being stopped by Christmas”-type scenario, it would have been very easy for the film to lapse into pure hokum and lose some of the believability. However, for the most part, the delivery and tone of the film is kept more realistic and underplayed, with the sense of turmoil over the situation being felt throughout the runtime. Adding to this is the winter setting, which, while on one hand being beautiful and calming, can also be cold and uncomfortable. This reflects the intermingling of the joy of the holidays and togetherness with the harshness of war and killing of the enemy. What do you do when the enemy becomes your friend? As I said, I’m not going to tell you where the story ends up going, but I think you can probably get a good idea, based on what would most likely happen in reality. It’s a bittersweet ending, but one that shows that those that went through this event will never be the same. Other than that, I wanted to note a few interesting or funny things I thought about while viewing this. Horstmayer states that he’s Jewish at one point in the film, which made me think that he might not end up being so patriotic in about two decades (if he survives this war, anyway). Throughout the film, the Scottish regiment occasionally has an English officer that comes to oversee them, and the Scots have no respect for the guy. Well, obviously they have to respect him to an extent, but they clearly see him for the stuffed shirt stick-in-the-mud that he is (even Lieutenant Gordon does). I had to wonder if this was a bit of a dig from the Scots to their “overseers.” Though this was mostly a French film, it did cooperate with Germany and the UK as well, which might explain why the portrayal of each side was more balanced.
Overall, I don’t have as much to say about this film specifically, I just think it was well made and effective at what it was going for. I think this would make for an interesting and different Christmas watch, though granted with films like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon being considered “Christmas movies,” I guess anything goes. However, in terms of films that try to reflect more of the ideals of the season, I think it works as “different.” It shows that humanity can blossom, even between warring sides, and that forming relations with those that you’re told to hate or eliminate can be much more rewarding and enriching than any death toll. I recommend that you give Joyeux Noël a watch this Christmas, though whatever you decide to watch, I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Thank you to all those who read this blog, I want to continue on improving my writing as much as I can and exposing all of you to films you might have never seen or known about before. Here’s to a Merry Christmas and hopefully Happier New Year.