Review of Merry Christmas (2006) by Mrmoviebuff — 13 Feb 2017

Writer and director Christian Carion decides to tell us a very important story about the one time during "The Great War" when soldiers fighting for other countries came together that one Christmas time to celebrate life.

The time of year that is so precious, many settled their differences to actually get to know each other. 'Joyeux Noel', or "Merry Christmas" is a poignant, emotionally stirring, sometimes too sentimental movie that is perfect for the holiday season.

The movie stars Benno Furmann as Private Nikolaus Sprink, a German tenor who also sings opera with his beloved wife, Anna Sorenson (Diane Kruger) who becomes concerned when he goes off to war. She gets permission to perform for the soldiers there, as long as Sprink accompanies her.

When we see the soldiers getting together and actually swapping stories, the movie becomes interesting as we see their differences are only so small. The focus is very strong on bringing these characters and making them human and easily sympathetic.

Again, what does hold the movie back is the overuse of its sentimentality, there is some bitterness from a couple of characters such as Lieutenant Hostmayer (Daniel Bruhl), but even then, it is limited to try and make this movie as likeable as some of the soldiers we see on screen.

All in all, this is a very solid movie, telling us a story that we should all know, in that War is something that people are only forced to fight in. Nobody here is a blood hungry murderer, they're just taking orders.

At the end of the day, they're good people.