On Christmas eve in the First World War, an unexpected truce was agreed upon by the warring French, Germans, and the Scotsman contingent of the British army. The truce began when ex-tenor turned German private Sprink (Benno Furmann) gave an apt rendition of "Silent Night" which the Scotsmen quickly offered to accompany with their bagpipes. Feeling the Christmas spirit despite their hometown being invaded by the Germans, the French agreed to celebrate Christmas eve with their enemies. Undeniably schmaltzy and melodramatic, Merry Christmas seems to be doomed to be in the company of other schmaltzy films like Pay it Forward or Benigni's Life is Beautiful. However, one has to look beyond the evident schmaltziness and keep one's cynicism at an all-time low to truly enjoy the film, which I thought was decently made and truly touching. After all, one cannot fault writer-director Christian Carion as the film was based on recorded events that truly happened during World War I. I think Carion tried his best to make the film as grounded and as realistic as possible although sometimes his screenplay gets a bit too oratorical and his direction gets a bit too overhanded with his overuse of the musical score. Carion promptly neutralizes the fuzzy feelings that are generated by warring men playing football and poker on Christmas Day by immediately portraying the sad repercussions of the men's fraternizing with their enemies. I thought that was a very welcome addition to bring back the audience from its suspension of disbelief to a more realistic ground that despite the innate humanity in everyone's heart, politics and the irrationalities of war still determine the fates of these men. There are also some technical aspects that I feel could've been polished a bit more. The lipsynching of the songs is quite obvious and very distracting especially since its hard to believe that Diane Kruger can belt out those high and strong note with her anorexic frame. Merry Christmas is wonderful, yet disposable entertainment. It is France's submission to the Oscars and I wouldn't be surprised if it gets a nod as it possesses almost everything that the Oscars want - a war film, with themes of peace and humanity, and of course the resulting emotion of fuzziness and pride for one's humanity. ***1/2/*****
Review of Joyeux Noel
