True Stories 30: Joyeux Noël

Happy holidays! Whichever holidays you might be celebrating.

I’ve looked extensively at Christmas movies in this blog in the past, but there’s one that I haven’t talked about before that particularly resonates given our current exploration of true stories, and that’s Joyeux Noël [2005] by Christian Carion. It’s a French film so is one that I’ll bet most people never saw.

It tells the true story of a World War I phenomenon—opposing armies calling a truce in their brutal shelling of one another for Christmas Eve.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkKkAg4Ew-s

The premise of this story is so seemingly far-fetched that if you wrote it as a spec script I can see your agents saying, “Seriously? This would never happen.”

But it did happen, and that’s what makes it resonate the way it does.

It’s also a trip into the past when it comes to warfare—to a time where opposing armies fought each other out in a field—each dug a trench, and each tried to shell the other into oblivion so that their troops could advance and conquer more territory. There were no satellites pinpointing enemy troops and strongholds. There were no drones to fly over enemy territory and get the lay of the land. Yes, there were some aircraft, but the majority of the war—when it comes to numbers of humans involved—was carried out by the infantry.

The true story that inspired the film begins with the German Crown Prince sending a famous German opera singer to the front to sing for the troops. And the man’s voice is so compelling and the German soldiers are so near their French/Scottish enemies, that the singer was well heard by the opposing troops. And when the German singer stopped, the French/Scottish contingent from across the field applauded.

It was that gesture that led to the two armies agreeing to agree to a truce for Christmas Eve—so for the night… but only this one night.

It’s a sweet premise and, as some critics noted, the movie is a bit sentimental. But as Roger Ebert said in his review for the Chicago Sun Times:

Joyeux Noël has its share of bloodshed, especially in a deadly early charge, but the movie is about a respite from carnage, and it lacks the brutal details of films like Paths of Glory

" ...Its sentimentality is muted by the thought that this moment of peace actually did take place, among men who were punished for it, and who mostly died soon enough afterward. But on one Christmas, they were able to express what has been called, perhaps too optimistically, the brotherhood of man."

A true story—fictionalized, of course—but a touching one. And beautifully realized. And note how it begins—with schoolboys from opposing countries delivering speeches in class about war. And given the trajectory of the film, that as a really cool way to start.

The film is streaming on several services—to buy or rent—why not treat yourself to this very different Christmas movie!

Next week we’ll check out a moving New Year’s Eve film, Fruitvale Station.

Merry Christmas!

Copyright © Diane Lake

25Dec22

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com