Merry Christmas (2005, French)

Director: Christian Carion

Cast: Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis

Genre: History, War

Graphic: Christmas Cease Fire!

Based on some true events/stories from World War I, Merry Christmas simply leaves you speechless with its immaculately written and detailed display. Music plays a vital role throughout the film, especially the Scottish piper and the German opera.

It begins with a gruesome scene of French, German and Scottish youths reciting their lines against the enemy in cold bold. You witness this horrendous murder of innocence (nothing graphic, just vibes) and the tone is set for the rest of the movie.

The next scene introduces the dreaded Trenches of World War I and starts bloodily as “Paths of Glory”, but from there the film takes a completely different turn.

Now the film revolves around the German, French and Scottish confrontation in no man’s land and this confrontation remains in the background throughout the film. Christmas is just around the corner and soldiers on all sides on the Western Front want the damn war to end.

There is a French lieutenant who left his pregnant wife in occupied France to attend the war call, the lieutenant’s aide/assistant who misses his mother and his coffee, a Scottish priest who, apart from the politics of faith , actually preaches about humanity and two Scottish brothers. Two German opera singers lost in love separated by war: Anna, Sprink. These and a few others form the core of the film. Their stories are intertwined, not literally, on an emotional level, and on Christmas Eve, the combined sentiments of all three sides reach the threshold of something spectacular. What is happening now completely defies the purpose/necessity of war and, to this day, is a morality lesson for all of us.

The three warring sides pull a trick and have fun together. This revelry isn’t just about having fun, you can feel some of the most complex human emotions elaborately captured on screen.

Some sequences leave you spellbound, for example, Sprink comes out singing from the German trenches, ignoring orders and likely enemy bullets, and being chanted by the bagpipes, Father Palmer’s sermon delivered in a language (Latin) that most do not understand. , Anna’s soul fills the song that leaves everyone moved to applause, Jonathan writing to his mother on behalf of his dead brother.

There are also some really funny moments, like the soccer game, the exchange of chocolates and wines, the alarm clock mysteriously going off at a certain time, and to top it all off, there’s a cat (Felix/Nestor) who is addressed by different names. between all sides.

A snippet from the movie:

“General Audebert: You and your men will rejoin the Verdun sector. You are right about one thing. I don’t understand this war. My body was the cavalry. You should have made a career out of it, like I said. Today, I’m being asked to fight in a way where the shovel beats the rifle. In which people exchange addresses with the enemy to meet when it’s all over. As well as the cat we found with a note from the Germans, “Good luck, comrades!” I’ve been ordered to arrest the cat for high treason…until further notice.”

Of course, the personnel involved in this fraternization were ultimately punished.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Diane Kruger, beautiful as ever, gives off a Donna Reedesque glow!

In fact, a must see.

8/10