Pop-Cultured Catholic #25: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, “Joyeux Noël”, and God’s Entry Into Man’s Fallenness on Christmas Day

In the wake of our latest Christmas right before New Year’s Day, I wanted to do at least one post that was more overtly Christmas themed. While perusing my mental catalog of Christmas classics, I recalled 2005’s French historical war drama, “Joyeux Noël”. That film has particularly resonated with me, having also read the famous anti-war novel, “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque.

For starters, I read “All Quiet on the Western Front” back when I was in High School, and I still remember some of the specific points I explored in my English essay. Up until that point, most of my knowledge and passion to learn has been centered around WWII, with me not learning nearly as much about the preceding “Great War”, until my Social Studies classes around the same time. Those Social Studies classes and my reading of Remarque’s novel helped me to see how WWI became reputed as a much more morally grey conflict than WWII, where armies of soldiers were often needlessly thrown into the squalid meat grinders of trench warfare, only for neither side to even gain any ground. There have also been a few movie adaptations of the novel, the latest of which is the 2022 German film that I recently watched on Netflix.

The narrative of "All Quiet on the Western Front" centers around a fictional soldier named Paul Bäumer, who gets swept up into volunteering for the Imperial German Army with his friends by pseudo-patriotic rhetoric, only to be traumatized and disillusioned by the hellish reality of war. The book showcases in full gritty detail all the horrors of war, which defy the promises of glory and honor Paul's comrades were sold. Death is random and dispassionate, taking the lives of anyone at any time, no matter how strong, courageous, or righteous one is perceived to be. Flooding, disease, muck, rats, and gore abound. Reading the descriptions of this has helped me to even more easily imagine how J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired to write the Dead Marshes scene in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", after witnessing such imagery himself as a British WWI soldier. One major theme highlighted in Remarque's novel is the perniciousness of blind nationalism, which goes beyond being proud and patriotic for one's country, to the degree that one's national identity and leaders are warped into an idol to worship. That is, at the expense of valuing human life, family, God, the truths about other peoples, and one's moral integrity. Even in the rare instances when Paul Bäumer gets a reprieve, being allowed to visit and rest in civilian settlements, shell shock and the loss of many friends leave him unable to interact well with the oblivious civilians. One of the few things to grant him fleeting comfort is the camaraderie and friendships he forms with some fellow soldiers.

One of the most famous and pivotal scenes from the book is the moment when Paul Bäumer is fighting French forces and mortally wounds an enemy soldier in hand-to-hand combat for the first time. Until this point in the story, Bäumer has never had to look squarely into the face of an enemy soldier and watch him slowly die before his eyes. When the Frenchman does not immediately die, but is nonetheless too weak to pose a threat, Paul is overcome with guilt and compassion, trying in vain to bandage his wounds and give him water. When the man dies, Paul examines the man's identification to learn that his name is Gérard Duval and he was once a printer by trade with a family. The experience is made worse as he is forced to hide inside the foxhole with Gérard's corpse for a period of time, lest he is picked off. This scene is one of the major catalysts to him realizing the evil and emptiness of the war propaganda he's been fed, which would dehumanize the enemy and promote pride in slaying and dying for one's government. He even bargains with the thought of eventually tracking down the man's family to pay them recompense. To reference another scene from Tolkien's The Two Towers, a similar sentiment is shared through the pondering of Samwise Gamgee, when he and Frodo witness a skirmish between Gondorian rangers and the Haradrim (Southron men who have allied with the Dark Lord Sauron and ride atop the mûmakil, a.k.a. oliphaunts). "It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men, and he did not like it much". After seeing one Haradrim soldier get shot and fall down next to him, "He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace". This dialogue is incorporated into a scene reserved for the Extended Edition of Peter Jackson's film adaptation, which I will also link.

The book ends on a tragic note, where Paul Bäumer dies near the very end of the war, followed by the scene which gives the book its name. By the final chapters, Paul has lost even more comrades and it becomes clear that Germany's defeat is inevitable, for they can only delay the armistice at most. Despite the leaders above learning that the armistice is coming, soldiers on both sides are still ordered to stand guard and shoot to kill. And on one otherwise perfectly peaceful day, Paul is fatally shot, displaying a calm expression on his face "as though almost glad the end had come". With Bäumer being the only casualty, his death is considered so statistically insignificant that the frontline report simply states "All quiet on the Western Front". In 2022's German film adaptation, there is an added subplot where the general leading Paul's unit spitefully orders them to make one final charge on Armistice Day, sacrificing more lives in hopes that the war will end on one last German victory to vainly boast about.

With "All Quiet on the Western Front" still in my mind, it amplified the uplifting sense I felt years later, when I watched the French film "Joyeux Noël" ("Merry Christmas" ), based on the Christmas truce of December 1914. The film begins by first establishing the three countries, multiple characters from which will give their perspectives. In that introductory scene, schoolboys from France, England, then Germany each recite a jingoistic and/or xenophobic war poem, artistically illustrating the mentalities prevalent in those times and the harm they can pose to youth. From the three countries shown comes the movie's cast, which includes French Lieutenant Audebert, Lieutenant Gordon of Britain's Royal Scots Fusiliers, Scottish priest Father Palmer (who also serves as a British stretcher-bearer), Jewish German Lieutenant Horstmayer, German opera tenor Nikolaus Sprink, and Danish opera soprano Anna Sørensen (who is engaged to Nikolaus). The movie's first act showcases a taste of the same horrors outlined in "All Quiet on the Western Front", with one subplot following two Scottish brothers, one of whom gets killed in a battle between the British/French and the Germans. As the plot unfolds, soldiers on all sides lament that the war's continuation will deny them any possibility of seeing their families back at home, while Christmas Eve arrives. Hoping to boost morale, Scots in the British army begin to sing and play festive songs, while Sprink and Sørensen perform for the German line, with both groups being within earshot of each other. With religion and music being a common language, this catalyzes a series of events in the film, where soldiers on all sides call for a ceasefire. Amidst this ceasefire and celebrations, the soldiers all have a chance to lay down their arms and enjoy a brief period of time to fraternize with their enemies. The film ends on a bittersweet note, when the inevitable reality sets in that their soldiers' superiors are not swayed and will order them to resume fighting in the following days. One of the more unsettling implications is a reminder that the German Lieutenant Horstmayer is also a Jew, who is relocated by angry superiors and may eventually return to a Germany where Hitler rises to power.

Towards the very end of the film, when the protagonists are facing pushback from their warmongering peers and superiors, I find this contrast between Father Palmer and the bishop above him to be particularly hard-hitting. Father Palmer is sent back to his own parish and the unit he served is shamefully disbanded. Palmer is then rebuked by his bishop, who rejects his sentiment of goodwill towards the truce and delivers a misguided hate-filled sermon: "Christ our Lord said, 'Think not that I come to bring peace on earth. I come not to bring peace, but a sword.' The Gospel according to St. Matthew. Well, my brethren, the sword of the Lord is in your hands. You are the very defenders of civilization itself. The forces of good against the forces of evil. For this war is indeed a crusade! A holy war to save the freedom of the world. In truth I tell you: the Germans do not act like us, neither do they think like us, for they are not, like us, children of God. Are those who shell cities populated only by civilians the children of God? Are those who advanced armed hiding behind women and children the children of God? With God's help, you must kill the Germans, good or bad, young or old. Kill every one of them so that it won't have to be done again. The Lord be with you". These words were reportedly based on a real sermon by an Anglican bishop in Westminster Abbey, and the scene apparently leaves out excerpts that were even worse. While this strikes me, in-part due to it being another example of influential Christians violating the values of Christ, the middle part where he questions whether certain people are even the children of God especially gets to me. While I have not fallen into the trap of forgetting that whole groups of people are God's children, I have sometimes felt tempted to forget that certain individuals are still fellow children of God, even when they do horrendous things. Back when I was a kid, I remember my mom telling me that we are even supposed to love Saddam Hussein. So I find that scene particularly effective as a cautionary tale of what not to be like.

Overall, "Joyeux Noël" is an echo of the very meaning behind Christmas, which ultimately gives the holiday its power: Amidst the worst of fallen mankind's brokenness, our Creator himself was willing to take flesh and enter into our dysfunction behind enemy lines as a meek baby, intending to both teach us and offer himself as a gift to save the world from sin and death, purely out of unearned love. When people are asked to define what the meaning of Christmas is, answers typically begin with a reference to it being a day of peace, generosity, hope, and goodwill towards all men. These are all important qualities which emanate from the spirit of Christmas. That being said, what are all of these things rooted in and what makes Christmas unique from other holidays which express these ideals? At the very least, it is the belief that mankind is dignified and beloved enough for God to make such a gift of himself, which fuels it. It is the beginning of the story which climaxes in Easter, showing that all the death, violence, scapegoating, poverty, selfishness, prejudice, tyranny, idolatry, hatred, and apathy in the world do not have the final say. While I do not think every Christmas movie needs to spell out Christ's part in Christmas to be a masterpiece and fulfill its purpose (one example being Chuck Jones' adaptation of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" ), one should still keep that part in mind. If those sentiments associated with Christmas were completely detached from the belief in Christ's birth, mission, and identity as Man's savior, would they have relayed the kind of power strongly enough to bring people to their senses, even amidst the atrocity that was WWI? The very atrocity which "All Quiet on the Western Front" puts on full gruesome display? Arguably, that truce which halted the Great War itself could be seen as another ripple effect of God's grace entering into our worst dysfunctions.

To end this post, I will link YouTube videos and a blog post showing a couple trailers and detailing three of the key scenes my analysis referenced from "All Quiet on the Western Front", "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", and "Joyeux Noël"...

1.) Trailer for 2022's Adaptation of "All Quiet on the Western Front":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf8EYbVxtCY

2.) Paul Bäumer Stabs French Soldier in 2022 Adaptation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BukhPgF7su0

3.) French Soldier Scene Continues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6d0WUM6dwU

4.) Faramir Killing the Haradrim Soldier, Then Reciting Tolkien's Words in Peter Jackson's Extended Edition of The Two Towers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVpCeQqluf8

5.) Trailer for "Joyeux Noël":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRrr-CDXijs

6.) A Blog Post By Padre Steve About the Bishop Scene in "Joyeux Noël":
https://padresteve.com/2015/12/25/joyeux-noel-i-belong-here-with-those-in-pain-who-have-lost-their-faith/