Joyeux Noel

Never heard of this one? Can't say I blame you. This film never got a theatrical release in the United States, and I didn't even see it until a few years ago on DVD. Hopefully it can grow in popularity in the years to come because this really is a great movie. It's about the true story of the Christmas Eve truce during World War I. Never heard of that either? Geeze, you really need to pay attention in class. The story goes that there was a battlefield in which French and Scottish troops were on one side and German troops were on the other side. On Christmas Eve, they agree to a cease fire, which leads to them getting out of the trenches to talk to each other, and then they even have a make-shift Christmas mass in the middle of no-man's land. The next day they go into no man's land again and socialize, tell each other stories and I think some of them even played soccer. Once their superiors find out about it however, you can pretty much guess that it doesn't end well. Things get even more complicated when they are all ordered to resume fighting which really sucks, considering that you now have to kill somebody who you were calling your friend only a day ago. Eventually they all decide to shift the troops somewhere else and put new soldiers in their to replace them.

I think this is the movie that cements Christmas's reputation as being the best time of the year. What other holiday has gotten so many enemies to lay down their arms and call each other friends? If somebody wants to make an argument that Christmas sucks and is a stupid holiday, pull out this movie and show it to them. If they still stand by their opinion, then there really is no hope left for them, they are going to die a sick and cynical old witch.

If you have seen this movie, great! If you haven't, check it out, but good luck finding it. I haven't seen any DVD's of it in any stores and I don't think I've seen it on TV. I know I said I saw it a few years ago, but that was in my french class, with a teacher who I believe said she got it when she was in France. I guess this is why we have Netflix. If it isn't on Netflix, then I guess you can add that to the list of things that is wrong in America.

Final Grade: A
Yours truly,
MP