Reviewed by Kim Lesch

HUMAN BEINGS aren't connected by all that much; we, as a species, perhaps aren't known for recognising that people all have the same basic wants and needs. To be loved, to be respected, to be recognised, to do right. Good art tends to showcase and draw upon these very emotions. Just as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind effortlessly demonstrated how great human stupidity (or genius) can be when love is involved, Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) puts on a great show of the emotive power that music holds, and even moreso, that of the value of human life in a wartime mentality of 'us' versus 'them'.


Joyeux Noël grants us a bird's eye view of three different WWI troops – the French, the Germans, and the Scots as they each slowly, yet surely come together to a brief, yet resonating truce for Christmas Eve. The film plods carefully along, introducing us to the main character's lives, their early views on the war, and the sobering change in their mentality in the reality of war itself. We, as an audience, are made aware of the basic capability of simply 'being human,' which achieves volumes as this film gently unfolds and the need for stolid, survival-based attitudes disseminate. In the case of these WWI soldiers, it's very clearly a matter of acknowledging the presence of souls hidden in the other foxholes and not just weapons which brings on a resonating look at war itself.

Religion is addressed as the starting factor to the peacemaking events, however it is clear that the universal need for human contact is what brings these three groups together. It is under the pretense of mass that the soldiers call a truce, and by the immediate, fragile change in the lead characters with whom we are the most intimate with, we see the impact of this initial gesture. Yet, I found the acting to be a fine balance of demonstrating the difficult emotions brought on by war and somehow (though I couldn't put my finger down on what precisely they did right) avoiding the expected overkill of extreme drama in said situations. The film was shot without much superfluous camera work and a very talented DOP – the different sense of environments were skillfully achieved and photographed with simplicity.

As the film unfolds we are shown the alarming aftereffects of the evening via several different perspectives, each demonstrating the senselessness of war itself and the importance of human kindness.