A heartfelt story of men who managed to find camaraderie and humanity in the face of the torrent of bellicose rhetoric coming from their respective authorities...
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12/11/08
Joyeux Noël (2006)
76
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:90
Fresh:68
Rotten:22
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: The poignant humanity on display in Joyeux Noel makes its sentimentality forgivable.
Theatrical Release:16-12-2005
Synopsis: Set in 1914 amid the muddy trenches and flying shrapnel of World War I, JOYEUX NOEL is a touching tale of an unlikely, if fleeting, reconciliation amid battle. French director Christian Carion... [More]
Starring: Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, Lucas Belvaux
Director: Christian Carion
Reviews for Joyeux Noël
Top CriticIt’s a respectful, sobering tribute to the flickering of humanitarian spirit amid the darkest days of conflict and, as such, surely a Christmas film for the ages.
08/03/06
Top CriticThis is such a great true story that it's a pity the film's so heavy-handed and deliberately weepy.
03/01/06
Heavy-handed, self-important and way, way too whimsical, Merry Christmas never hits home emotionally.
12/17/05
When a blinkered bishop starts getting righteous about a holy war, Merry Christmas' modern relevance rings out like a shot.
12/13/05
Top CriticInsipid manipulation masquerading as (and giving a bad name to) humanism
08/30/09
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04/23/09
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11/20/08
Nominated for the 2005 Best Foreign Film Academy Award, "Noel" is the kind of sentimental tripe the Academy loves to honor in order to justify their own sentimental tripe.
08/07/08
Some might castigate its unabashed sentimentality, but I found myself moved, especially when I recalled that this was supposedly the war to end all wars.
11/27/07
A surprisingly homogenous, organic and satisfying broad-canvas burst of ambitious, engaging cinema.
03/01/07
Saber que o espetacular incidente relatado pelo longa realmente aconteceu é algo que, confesso, me reconforta imensamente.
11/30/06
This true story seems like it can only be explained as 'a God thing,' and indeed, how else could something so extraordinary take place without divine intervention?
09/25/06
[Carion] settles for making a tear-jerker, when it could have been -- and deserves to be -- so much more.
07/01/06
Well-photographed and acted, Joyeux Noël suffers most from the inevitable comparison with its betters, such films as Paths of Glory or All Quiet on the Western Front.
06/22/06
Offers enough of a sense of the strange stillness and fleeting promise that hovered over the early days of a bitter, cancerous war for just one evening to move even the most sentiment-hardened viewer.
06/08/06
The story speaks to universal human emotions that transcend country and culture.
05/19/06
...a dull and pretty play, oiled by syrup and lighted by golden candles.
05/19/06
Carion's faith in his fellow man -- and you sense that wherever they are in the world, they're his fellow man -- is a touching dose of Christmas cheer that's unexpectedly welcome in mid-May.
05/12/06
[D]ramatizes this bizarre moment in time with a straightforward aplomb that is devastating, that makes you wish you could laugh at the insanity and pointlessness of it but refuses all emotional response except overwhelming rage and grief.
05/04/06
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