Scheduled for theatrical release later this year [2006], “Joyeux Noël”
is a reenactment of an actual historical event that took place on
Christmas Eve in 1914. In the north of France, Scottish and French
troops were in one trench and the enemy German troops were arrayed
against them not more than 50 yards away–as was often the case in the
Great War. That night, as they heard each other singing Christmas carols
in each others’ language, they were moved to stop fighting for a day and
fraternize with each other.
The film opens in three classrooms as Scottish, French and German
schoolboys tell their classmates how the enemy must be wiped off the
face of the earth. Moving ahead ten years, we see these young men
eagerly hurrying off to war, as if they were going to a soccer match.
Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Fürmann) is an opera singer whose solo is
interrupted by an announcement from a German officer who has mounted the
stage that war has begun. In a fictionalized back-story, Sprink has to
leave Anna Sörenson (Diane Kruger), his singing partner and lover, after
being drafted. But she joins him at the front on Christmas Eve after the
top brass decides that it would be good for German morale to hear them
sing. The Kaiser has also decided that morale would be bolstered by the
presence of Christmas trees in the trenches, so a virtual forest of pine
trees with matching decorations is sent out to the beleaguered troops as
well. This detail, as well as many in this outstanding film, is borne
out by the historical record.
https://louisproyect.org/2006/02/10/joyeux-noel/
Rent the film for $3.99: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC9KyHcbAEM
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