Keswick Film Club - Joyeux Noel

Synopsis

In this profoundly moving story of the human spirit rising above appalling suffering, we see German, French and Scottish soldiers trapped in the gruesome trenches of what would soon be recognized as the worst and most pointless slaughter the world had yet seen. But on this 95th anniversary of an extraordinary Christmas truce, it is also a work of nostalgia for a time when war was still imagined to be a glorious and dangerous sport. With gorgeous music (from classical arias to Scottish bagpipers), lovely photography, sufficient enquiry into the morality of warfare, we have fine performances from Guillaume Canet, Daniel Bruhl and Alex Ferns enjoying some civilized bonhomie amid the carnage.