Joyeux Noël an Unhappy Holiday
It is winter 1914 and World War I has started its brutal rage across Europe. Deep in the heart of the French countryside, Germans, Frenchman and a Scottish division of the British army are dug deep within their trenches, a hellish no-man’s land lying between them. It is cold. It is dirty. Blood drips from the muddy walls. Death sits waiting behind every corner and over every knoll.
But a funny thing happened on Christmas Eve of this first year of the war. Maybe it was because the conflict was still young, the stench of the coming two million-plus deaths not yet weighing upon each soldier’s weary mind. For whatever reasons, whether it be rational or not, for one night and into the next day, these fighting forces lay down their weapons, waked into no-man’s land, shook their enemy’s hand and said hello.
Based on a true event, “Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)” was a 2006 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film. The French epic from director Christian Carion is certainly impressive on many fronts. A technical triumph, from Walther Vanden Ende’s cinematography to Jean-Michel Simonet’s production design, the war-torn drama is definitely a visual feast. Too bad Carion’s script is swamped in both annoying cliché and tired melodrama, drowning its characters time and time again in syrupy sentimentality that’s annoying and unforgivable almost from the very start.
Looking at these Christmas events through the eyes of the soldiers in all three encampments, the potential for an outstanding historical docudrama are definitely in place. Problem is, Carion never gives his cast any room to breath, cementing them inside one-dimensional shells that are nearly impossible to break free of. Pity, because I can’t remember the last time the luminous Diane Krüger (“National Treasure,” “Wicker Park”) had a role in her native German. Yet she, too, is nothing more than a caricature, a plot device showing up here and there required only to make sure the audience sheds a tear or two before the director brings events to their forgone conclusions.
The thing is, far all of the film’s numerous faults there is still plenty of power to be found here. The sight of the three armies carefully trudging across a body-covered battlefield for a moment of cautious peace is breathtaking. From the music they share, the faith they hold and the humanity they still posses, this journey into the unknown feels heartfelt and real; a magical moment of mystery that nearly stilled my breath.
Like an Oreo Cookie, the center of “Joyeux Noël” is divine. There is real emotion during this sequence, passion, power and majesty that riveted me to my seat and kept me wanting to see what would happen next. This portion of the film, still reveling in cliché, still feeling a bit too much like an episode of “M*A*S*H,” manages a profundity every other bit of the picture lacks. Carion and company transcend his tired screenplay, the film taking on a spectacular melancholic air that’s impressive, easily galvanizing my attention and diverted me from the obscene rottenness of the rest.
If only the other two thirds book ending these moments weren’t so regrettably forgettable. Walking out of the theater, I couldn’t remember any of the characters (other than Krüger, but that had more to do with her sublime wardrobe than anything else) or why I was supposed to care about these soldier and the events that shaped them. Carion presents this wondrous history as a didactic lesson in boredom, painting his ideas and concepts in glossy water colors sure to fade away and disappear the moment the curtain closes. For me, “Joyeux Noël” was nothing more than a disappointing holiday, and the only thing I found merry was getting up to leave when it finally came to an end.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
