Merry Christmas

Have you ever seen Germans and the Allied forces hanging up their rifles and chatting side by side in any world war movies? If not, this is the right time to get yourself a ticket to PVR Cinemas this week for one of the most moving story on humananity in a cumbersome situation.

‘Merry Christmas’ (originally titled Joyeux Noel) screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 Oscars is based on a true story that took place on the Christmas eve of 1914.

Three armies (Scottish regiment, French and German) are just a few metres away from each other in their trenches on the cold Christmas eve. Suspicion is in the air even as the Germans, led by their prized tenor, begin to sing their version of ‘Silent Night’. It was a night none had expected. Eventually, the three forces gathered together at ‘no man’s land’ to have a mass after their commanders declared an unofficial ceasefire.
The men drank, shared food, buried their dead, talked, sang and exchanged addresses. They found that their enemies were not so cruel after all. However, the circumstances leading to their “most memorable Christmas” come with consequences and they must accept what is stored for them.

The sorrows of war is resonanated strongly in the painful music composed by Philippe Rombi. The keyboard has been employed with great expertise to bring out the agonies of the men at war.

With regard to the acting, Gary Lewis as the Scottish priest, Guillaume Canet as the French lieutenant and Benno Furmann as the German tenor are central to the film’s mood and they carry it pretty well. Perhaps the most hard-hitting fact shown in this film is the religious angle in which the Allied forces are indoctrinated by priests to fight and kill ‘to save democracy and protect God’s given freedom’!

The film celebrates the true spirit of Christmas — love and brotherhood. A must watch.
--------------------------
French/German/English
Cast: Gary Lewis, Guillaume Cane, Steven Robertson and Robin Laing, Benno Furmann, Diane Kruger
Director: Christian Carion