In 1914, the first year of World War I, the opposing sides came out of their trenches on Christmas Eve in order to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It was an event that was not repeated for the rest of the conflict, which ended four years later.  This is also not the subject of Silent Night (2002).  Nonetheless, there are some parallels.  Though today’s movie is set during World War II, it takes place on the same calendar day.  Further, it features representatives of the belligerent nations coming together on neutral ground, albeit not initially of their own choosing.  For someone who has seen arguably too many Yuletide flicks, it was refreshing to find something a little different.  The wartime Christmas drama is rare.

What is also rare is a visit from Chris (Gianpaolo Venuta) to his father’s old friend, Fritz Vincken (Michael Sinelnikoff), the first two characters we meet in Silent Night.  Chris has come to Germany with news that his dad has passed away.  As a way of honoring the occasion, Fritz has agreed to take Chris to where they first met.  To do so, we are treated to a flashback to the rest of the film featuring a youthful Fritz (Matthew Harbour) and his mother, Elisabeth Vincken (Linda Hamilton).  They are fleeing the bombing of their home in an unnamed German city for their family’s hunting cabin in the Ardennes Forest.  In case you are not a history nerd like me, that is not a place you want to be in the winter of 1944-1945.  Despite the obvious folly of their direction of escape, we later learn that Elisabeth is trying to keep the soon-to-be fifteen Fritz from joining the Hitler Youth on his birthday and being pressed into military service.  Thus, moving towards the ever-encroaching Allies, to her, means a quicker end to the war for her family.  As for her husband (not pictured) who is already fighting, she tells her son that he will find them there after the war.  Finally, she is not willing to sacrifice her only surviving son to the conflict.  Nonetheless, not long after getting settled into the cottage, the conflict finds them.  The first to enter the home is Private Jimmy Rassi (Romano Orzari).  The Vinckens are startled, but he shushes them as he makes sure the home is safe.  This is necessary because his boss, Sergeant Ralph Blank (Alain Goulem), is carrying a wounded comrade, Private Herbie Ridgin (Michael Elkin).  At the same time, this is not as big a problem as you might think.  This is because Elisabeth speaks English, and she has been forcing Fritz to learn, too, as preparation for a postwar Germany.  Elisabeth is helpful, to which Private Rassi is receptive, but Sergeant Blank does not trust her.  To Sergeant Blank, the enemy is all the same, and therefore turns down any assistance.  His wariness is increased when Private Rassi reports that their weapons are missing.  They are gone because Elisabeth has asked Fritz to take the guns outside and hide them, not wanting them in the house.  Angered, Sergeant Blank sends Private Rassi to convince Fritz to reveal their location since we have seen their shred interest in Mark Twain.  Private Rassi finds the boy in the wood shed, but before any convincing can be done, German soldiers arrive.  Luckily, their leader, Lieutenant Hans Klosterman (Martin Neufeld), also speaks English, so they are able to negotiate a truce by bluffing having rifles in their hands.  As with the others, the Germans are forced to deposit their firearms outside.  Lieutenant Klosterman and his immediate subordinate, Sergeant Marcus Muller (Mark Anthony Krupa), look in on Private Ridgin, and it is Sergeant Muller that has the solution for the wound.  Despite initially drawing a dagger, he asks that it be heated so that he can cauterize the flesh.  Between that and Elisabeth’s insistent earnestness, things revert to an uneasy calm.  The person who is consistently pushing the boundaries of the settlement is Lieutenant Klosterman.  There are several things making him suspicious: the fact that the Vinckens are here instead in their hometown; Elisabeth’s catering to the Americans; and the fact that Fritz is being kept away from where he can be recruited into the military.  Yet, as they put together their Christmas feast and join in other holiday appropriate activities, they all realize they have more in common than they realize.  This includes Sergeant Blank, who shares a cigar with his German counterpart at one point.  Everything would have stayed peaceful if not for the Iron Cross, Germany’s highest military medal, being revealed to be in Private Rassi’s possession as he is hands out gifts from different items he has scavenged.  The Americans do not understand the angry reaction, and Private Rassi reiterates that he had traded for it instead of taking it as a trophy.  Being stirred by the commotion, Private Ridgin rises and points his pistol at everyone, the piece being previously overlooked.  Upon being overpowered, Lieutenant Klosterman picks up the gun and points it at the Americans.  However, eventually he realizes the folly of the situation and drops his arm.  As a way of saying thank you, Private Rassi hands the medal to Lieutenant Klosterman.  They soon all go to sleep, only to be awakened by a member of the American military police (MP).  The Americans think they have been found by their side, but the newcomer is actually Captain Dietrich (James McGowan), an American serving in the German army and disguised as an Allied soldier.  Captain Dietrich is especially unkind to Elisabeth, and he is about to shoot her until he is knocked out by Lieutenant Klosterman.  With that, they all go their separate ways, and the elder Fritz comes to the end of the story with Chris at the ruins of the cottage.

The house in which Silent Night takes place, as previously mentioned, is in the Ardennes Forest.  Why a German family has a hunting lodge in a place outside their country is beyond me.  I bring this up because the film is based on a true story, but this odd plot feature speaks volumes as to how loose is the word “based.”  They could have been ardent Nazis with such property, but that does not seem to be the case.  Not that I wish to get into politics, but there are some things mentioned during the movie on this subject that have come up recently in my study of The Catechism of the Catholic Church as told by Father Mike Schmitz.  When it comes to this subject, the Church teaches what Jesus preached in Matthew 22:21, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”  In our modern context, this means that while we owe obedience to the government under which we live, it needs to be equally clear that it is not our ultimate authority.  Furthermore, there are times when that government can ask us to do things that are contrary to God’s commands.  In a roundabout way, this is why Elisabeth is keen to keep Fritz out of the military.  At one point, mother and son have a discussion about the matter, and she is adamant that Germany is going to lose.  He counters by stating that their führer, Adolf Hitler, says they cannot be defeated, and that he knows everything.  Her reply is that he does not know everything, he just tells everyone he does.  I almost fell out of my chair hearing that in today’s context, but from a Faith perspective, she is also correct.  Only God is omniscient, and it is best to trust in Him rather than governments and their armies.  That is something upon which we can all agree, and is the true spirit of Christmas.

Arguably, Silent Night is the most Christmas-y film I have seen to this point.  It talks about the birth of Jesus and prayer, though maybe not as much as this Catholic would like.  What it also is not is a romantic comedy or cartoon.  It is about peace on earth, if for one night, and that is something for which we should all strive.