Silent Night

I found this movie while flipping through the channels early one morning in December/2005. I had missed the first 10 minutes and just had to buy the DVD. Although it plays loosely with the facts, something the film industry has a hard time adhering to, it nevertheless is an wonderful movie made for TV for the Hallmark Channel.

It is based on the short story "Truce in the Forrest" and "The Night God Came for Dinner" by Fritz Vicken. Unlike the movie, communication was done between Fritz's mother Elisabeth, who spoke some French and one of the American soldiers who also spoke a little French. Only one of the Germans spoke some English.

Both the movie and real life incident showed that these people could put their differences aside and found they were much alike in many ways. Unlike the conflict between the Germans and Russians, there wasn't that level of hatred unless they were dealing with the SS. I've found many stories where soldiers put their differences aside to help each other out, from a German officer stopping an American jeep at a checkpoint that was carrying a wounded GI, then directing them to the American lines, to the pilot of an ME-109 who came upon a crippled B-17 and rather than shooting it out of the sky, escorted it to the English Channel and made sure it was going to make it safely back before peeling away. Ironically, the pilots of those 2 warplanes found each other in the later years and became close friends. That's what this movie does it to show the human side of our "enemy" and leaves you hoping they made it out of the war OK but it does leave you wondering what ever happened to them.

Fritz Vicken was able to locate Sgt. Ralph Blank in a Maryland nursing home after years of searching for the soldiers, thanks to "Unsolved Mysteries". Sadly, Fritz Vicken died the year this movie was released. What is ironic is that Fritz immigrated to this country after the war, like so many German soldiers and civilians. Our former enemies were now productive Americans. Fritz owned a bakery in Honolulu for many years.

I've added this movie to my Christmas holiday collection.

And this movie proves that old adage. Silent Night is a simple story with a small cast in one setting (and one that will translate well into a stage play, if it didn't originate as one to begin with). It is not an unfamiliar story for those who read military history, but the human aspect of civilians in the midst, and especially one courageous woman who set the terms of a truce for just one evening, is a fresh twist. As with all "based on a true story" movies, one wonders how true the facts are to the original events. If liberties were taken with the facts of this event, the result was a charming and tightly told story that questions the value of duty and honour versus the value of life and friendship. Its a good war story, and a good Christmas story, and although the plot is set up from the start, so that the viewer knows all will end well, there is a tension throughout that keeps the viewer interested.

Die-hard "Unsolved Mysteries" fans will remember the wonderful story told by a man named Fritz about a Christmas eve in the German woods when he and his mother were visited by American soldiers seeking to get out of the cold. It was a lovely story if you just stopped there, but German soldiers soon arrived and wanted to get out of the cold as well! The mother insisted that everyone lay down their weapons and have a Christmas dinner, and they did so. One of the soldiers was wounded, and the soldiers on the other side helped him. They all spent the night with no incident, realizing that on whatever side you were on, you were still a human being.

Well, if this didn't have all the makings of a movie, what does? The story, of course, has been vastly expanded to include some conflict and some insight into the personalities involved. In real life, there wasn't intense communication since there were language barriers.

This is a Christmas story that embodies the true meaning of the season in every sense of the word, all the more poignant because it's true. The performances are all wonderful. In real life, Fritz, who emigrated to America and became a baker, was looking to connect with the GIs he had met. The show found one of the old soldiers in a nursing home, and as he and Fritz reminisced, it was obvious that to both of them, the incident happened yesterday.

This movie is highly recommended. It's about a remarkable woman who understood the term "peace on earth."

Growing up I was told by my Parents and Grand Parents similar accounts of how during the W.W.II that the enemy lines were crossed in order that the Rank and File solders, of each side could have a cup of worm cheer and a carol or two on Christmas Eve.

The night that seemed too holy not to stop and remember Family so far away. This touching move does this and in a engaging and dramatic way. It also reminds us that not all Germans welcomed the war and the havoc it brought, nor did all Germans believe in the Nazi propaganda. Elisabeth's impassioned speech in which she tells a reluctant Nazi solder ` If I had only know earlier, in the beginning I would have done something, but I didn't know' brought me to tears. Also the scene where the two sides sit down to a "pitch in" Christmas Supper was very moving.

Linda Hamelton's Elisabeth is a fine performance and a wonderful example of how when given good material she can really give an award winning performance. All the actors turned convincing and hart tugging performances.

I feel that it is unfortunate that a Major network did not pick this up for broadcast, and that it ran on a rather obscure cable station, but Kudos to Hallmark for using good sense in airing it.

I saw this story originally I believe on "Unsolved Mysteries" a few years ago and I thought to myself "this story would make a great movie," and wondered how long it would take for someone to realize what a movie of this caliber could do for people. I see that it didn't take as long for that realization, as I thought it would.

In one of the most heartfelt performances in her life, Linda Hamilton, as Frau Elisabeth Vincken, a woman living alone with her young son who has her own demons to deal with and her own dislike of the war that has torn her country and family apart, has managed to pull off what few other women could have with the strength and believability that she did.

World War II...Christmas Eve...all the makings for a dreary night in the trenches with not much to celebrate one would think.

Not so for this movie and the heartstrings definitely get a good pulling in this film.

The animosity between the German and American soldiers when they first meet is evident and Martin Neufeld puts in one heck of a performance as Lt. Hans Klosterman, a bitter, loyal to the death, and unbending German officer. The hatred, the anger that he feels toward the American soldiers, especially Sgt. Ralph Blank, played with hard realism by Alain Goulem; who seems to butt heads from the get go with the battle hardened Lt., who have come seeking shelter for the evening in the home of Frau Vincken is palpable and makes for a very believable situation. More than once I felt myself torn between hating Neufeld's character and having hope for his heart to soften.

As has already been said, this story was based on a real life occurrence. Sometimes fact can be more beautiful than fiction and this movie is ironclad proof.

If any film needed levity and laugh now and then, it was this movie, and that call was quickly and with an outstanding performance, answered by Private Jimmy Rassi, played with expert talent by Romano Orzari. This actor really put his heart into his performance and the result was a character that was not only heartwarming but completely and utterly believable.

If you want a movie that can convey the message of what Christmas is REALLY about, then you must see this film. It will make you think, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry...it will give you hope that our future, if we could simply put aside our differences could be a lot brighter than what people could ever dream...