Five Christmas movies loved around the world, from Fanny and Alexander to Tokyo Godfathers
- Joyeux Noël celebrates a truce in the first world war, Tokyo Godfathers is a Dickensian tale about a found baby, while Rare Exports paints Santa in a new light
- Fanny and Alexander, Ingmar Bergman’s final feature, begins with sumptuous Christmas Eve revelry, while Bushfire Moon shows sun-scorched Australia at its best
As travel plans over the festive period are scuppered by increasingly stringent lockdown regulations, let these five films regale you with Christmas stories from all around the world.
1. Joyeux Noël (2005)
One of the most famous Christmas celebrations of the twentieth century took place during the first world war, when an unofficial ceasefire was declared on December 24, 1914, along the frontlines of northern Europe.
French, British and German soldiers put down their weapons, emerged from their trenches into No Man’s Land, and celebrated the holiday together, drinking, singing and even playing soccer.
Those involved would be severely reprimanded in the aftermath, and the war would drag on for four more miserable years. But for a few brief hours, politics was put out of their minds, as they bonded over their shared struggle to survive the bitterly cold winter and dismal living conditions.
Christian Carion’s film picked up a best foreign language film nomination at the Academy Awards for its heartwarming representation of humanity triumphing over adversity, while a star-studded cast of European heavyweights, including Daniel Bruhl, Guillaume Canet, Dany Boon and Diane Kruger (as a visiting opera singer), add dramatic heft.
2. Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Master animator Satoshi Kon put his distinctive authorial spin on the Nativity story in this 2003 Yuletide tale. On a wintry Christmas Eve night in Tokyo, a trio of mismatched vagrants discover a newborn baby, discarded in a large pile of rubbish and accompanied by a bag of items giving clues as to the baby’s identity.