Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee for Best Foreign Film, Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) tells the true-life story of the spontaneous Christmas Eve truce declared by Scottish, French and German troops in the trenches of World War I. Enemies leave their weapons behind for one night as they band together in brotherhood and forget about the brutalities of war. Diane Krüger (Troy), Daniel Brühl (Good Bye Lenin!) and Benno Fürmann (The Princess and the Warrior) head a first-rate international cast in a truly powerful, must-see film.
Joyeux Noel captures a rare moment of grace from one of the worst wars in the history of mankind, World War I. On Christmas Eve, 1914, as German, French, and Scottish regiments face each other from their respective trenches, a musical call-and-response turns into an impromptu cease-fire, trading chocolates and champagne, playing soccer, and comparing pictures of their wives. But when Christmas ends, the war returns...Joyeux Noel has been justly accused of sentimentality, but if any subject warrants such an earnest and hopeful treatment, it's the horrors of trench warfare. The largely unknown cast--the more familiar faces include Diane Kruger (Troy), Daniel Bruhl (Good Bye Lenin!), Benno Furmann (The Princess and the Warrior), and Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot)--deliver low-key but effective performances as the movie dwells on the everyday elements of life in the face of war. Based on a true incident (though considerably fictionalized). --Bret Fetzer Stills from Joyeux Noel (click for larger image)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Great gift:
I gave this to my mother for Christmas and we watched in that morning. She really enjoyed it.
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.:
Joyeux Noel is a wonderful addition to your Christmas Film collection and tradition. It is an unusual look at the insanity that was World War I, a war that from my viewpoint had no appreciable gain to be made from the aggressors, and of course the soldiers and the citizens suffered. An example of the crazy things is a scene where the German Kaiser orders that Christmas trees be sent to the battlefront and spaced every 3 meters or some such. Men had no ammunition or supplies, but Christmas trees were... more info
A Perfect film for Christmas:
My father fought in the American army in the Alsace-Lorraine area of France in WWI. He brought home a German helmut, which hung in our garage for years. I used to look at it, hanging over his work bench, with the pointed spike on top, but never thought much about who had worn it originally. Now as I see this film, Joyeuse Noel, I am especially moved, for the actual true events of this amazing event and for what my father must have endured. Like so many others, he never talked about his war experiences... more info
PEACE ON EARTH, GOODWILL TO ALL MEN!!:
Based on a true story that took place on Christmas Day, 1914, during WWI, this film depicts the worst and best of the human spirit. On the one hand, it shows the brutality and insanity of war as we see men in the trenches literally being sacrificed by those calling the shots from the comfort of their headquarters. Trench warfare was brutal and the trenches were separated by only 50-100 yards. Soldiers tried to capture the enemies' trench by crawling on their stomachs across 'no-man's land' and surprising... more info
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