The deeper meaning of
Joyeux Noël.
What is the Oscar-nominee 2006 movie Joyeux Noel about and what message about WWI does the movie contain?
Gabe Holmes (MYP 5)
Content:
Title page
Content page (page 1)
Introduction (page 2)
Main Body (page 2-4)
What is Joyeux Noël about? (page 2)
How does Joyeux Noël link to other matters in WWI? (page 2-3)
What message does Joyeux Noël have on WWI? (page 3)
The process of analysis (page 4)
Conclusion (page 4)
Bibliography (page 5)
Introduction:
Joyeux Noël is best known for its nomination for best foreign film in 2006, However what is Joyeux Noël about and what message about WWI does the film pursue? Film is set in the winter of 1914 the film show the struggles of the war and the effects on the soldiers. The film follows the perspective of six individuals all of which are on different sides of the war. The film shows the true historical event of the unauthorised truce between all sides of the war to celebrate the joys of christmas, in a time where joy was far from mind.This was quite simply an act of humanity. I will going into depth with What is Joyeux Noël is about?; How Joyeux relates to other matters in the World war?; What message Joyeux Noël has on WWI?; as well as How does this message affect the audience?
The film Joyeux Noël follows the perspective of six individuals. Audebert (a French Lieutenant), Gordon (a Lieutenant of the Royal Scots Fusiliers),Palmer (a Scottish priest working as a stretcher-bearer),Horstmayer (a Jewish German Lieutenant), and German tenor Nikolaus Sprink and his fiancée (who are both separated by the war). All of these characters are all on different sides of the war and all have the same opinion on war. On christmas eve night when the scots began to sing traditional songs from home in there trench. After this Sprink starts to sing for his fellow soldiers. As Sprink sings "Silent Night" a piper in the Scottish front-line starts to play the medley of the song. When this happens Sprink responds to the piper by exiting his trench with a small Christmas tree singing "Adeste Fideles" which is latin for “All ye faithful”. Then soon after Sprink leaves his trench the French, German, and Scottish officers follow. When they meet in no-man's-land they agree on a cease-fire for the evening. After this all side begin interact with one another with chocolate and champagne. However after this night the as the cease-fire was not authorised by higher in command a lot of soldiers were punished as they were not to fraternize with the other side of the war. When one of the six individuals was told to shoot a soldier on the other side he purposely missed so that the soldier would live.
When looking at other elements of the World War I , Joyeux Noël also shows these certain elements. At the beginning of the film it shows the life of Audebert the french lieutenant in the trenches. One of the first scenes of the lieutenant is him getting ready for an attack on the opposite side. As he is getting ready for the attack he is slowly taking his time wondering if he will come back to this trench. Before leaving the bunker the lieutenant vomits as an act of fear. Continuing the scene the lieutenant gives a speech to his fellow soldiers, as the camera shows the faces of the soldiers more clearly they all look worried as well as praying to live. This problem can be linked to shell shock, which is a term to describe a type of posttraumatic stress disorder during WWI. Another element of the story which can be linked to other elements of the world war is the Christmas Tree issue that was brought to the front by the Germans. As there were not many farmers to take care of these trees since they were at war many of the tree’s died. This was common in World War I as many farmers went to fight in the war there was no long anyone to look after the land or animals. Another element which can be linked to the war was at the beginning of the film was the two brothers who were excited to go to war as they saw it as an opportunity to leave home and explore the world. Then later in the film when one of the brothers is dying he says “Get out of here little brother so that one of us survives” This also can be link to many situation in the war as many young boys saw the war as a great opportunity of exploring the world and becoming a hero in the war.
The message of Joyeux Noël is an Anti-war attitude, as all six individuals find war pointless. Throughout the film the majority of the individual's found that war was useless as many saw the higher authorities as people who don’t understand the full element of war, which is death. The anti-war is shown in many elements of the film for example when one of the scottish brothers was dying he told his brother to get out of the war so that he could live. Another anti-war element was when the soldiers from each side began to celebrate christmas with one another. This would be because they all knew that they were not killing one another by choice but being ordered to by higher authorises. Another message the film decides to give is that each side of the war suffered. As other films only take the perspective of one side, however, this story takes the side of everyone the Scots, the French, the Germans, and the Civilians. At the beginning of the film there is a symbolic meaning behind the children who are giving patriotic speeches which are admiring their countries as well as criticize their enemies. This symbolic meaning is that young boys have had these patriotic speeches embedded in there head, these speeches criticize their enemy country giving these young boys the idea of there enemies as bad people and not to franizze with them.
I have been able to give my own analysis on Joyeux Noël since I was able to watch the film as well as look at other reviews and analysis. When watching the film Joyeux Noël I took notes of want could be linked the WWI as well as the characters attitude to the war. Another aspect that helped me to find the message of Joyeux Noël was look at websites of reviews as well as look at the real story of the christmas truce in 1914. I was able to find a quote from one of the survivors of this event. He said "a short peace in a terrible war." this was said by Alfred Anderson who was scottish veteran in the World War. This helped as I got to see all different peoples perspective in this terrible time. I was also able to compare this story with the World War as I looked back at the topics we looked t in class this would be sell shock, artillery, and more.
Conclusion:
The Oscar-nominee film Joyeux Noël pursues the message of war was nothing but higher powers ordering thousands of men to kill one another, where these men see no difference between one another. The message of the film is to say that even the men fighting in the war thought that it was waste of lives, as when they met one another they did not see the country they stand for but what they are human this is what the both sides had in common. For many reasons this is an act of humanity. I conclude this by watching the movie as well as looking other reviews and analysis by others. Joyeux Noël is known to others as a film about the christmas truce in World War I , however this is not the case as it shows the attitude of the people fighting in the war of how they felt about fighting as well as the way of how men from opposing sides came together as one as an act of humanity.
Bibliography:
Ebert, Roger. "Joyeux Noel Movie Review & Film Summary (2006) | Roger Ebert." RogerEbert.com. Brian Grazer, 09 Mar. 2006. Web. 10 Nov. 2018. <https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/joyeux-noel-2006>.
Hinson, Mark. "Anti-war 'Joyeux Noel' Reenacts WWI Christmas Truce." Tallahassee Democrat. N.p., 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 04 Nov. 2018. <https://eu.tallahassee.com/story/entertainment/movies/2014/11/26/anti-war-joyeux-noel-reenacts-wwi-christmas-truce/19522461/>.
"Joyeux Noël." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Sept. 2018. Web. 04 Nov. 2018. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeux_No%C3%ABl>.
Merry Christmas. Dir. Christian Carion. By Christian Carion. Prod. Christophe Rossignon. Perf. Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis, and Dany Boon. Sony Pictures Classics, 2006.
Staff!, Chosen by RT, The Best-reviewed since 1998, 30 Great Scenes in Rotten Movies, and Movies and Shows to Binge Now. "Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) (2006)." Safe Haven (2013) – Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2018. <https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joyeux_noel/>.
Walsh, Ben. GCSE Modern World History. Second ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001. Print