Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C+
In time
for the holiday, Sony is issuing Christian Carion’s 2005 film Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) that once
again tries to tell us about the story about how opposing sides in the battle
trenches of WWI were still under enough of a “grand illusion” of
gentleman-at-war that they were able to take a break around Christmas-time and
play games!
It has
become the stuff of propaganda as if the holiday can magically bring world
peace and though the film is somewhat of a mythbreaker; it is hardly a deep
mediation on what really happened and does not make any kind of deep
examination of the situation thereof. It
simply spends nearly two hours somewhat recreating what it must have been like
when it did happen. Its cast of mostly
unknowns is good, but it makes WWI look too clean, resulting in a film that
misses what really happened and thinks only recreating the time period is
sufficient.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is nicely shot by Walther Vanden Ende,
but his cinematography is more interested in the beauty of the snow than the
gritty realities of WWI, especially the trenches. The result is a strange visual language that
does not know if it is being romantic, being “realistic” or trying to create
aspects of holiday spirit. That is much
like the script itself. At least the
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad and has a naturalistic soundfield. Carion does both and on-camera interview and
feature-length audio commentary, which are intelligent enough.
- Nicholas Sheffo
