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“Joyeux Noël” is a 2005 feature film by Christian Carion. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The cast includes Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet and Daniel Brühl. The film takes up the historical Christmas truces of 1914 and tells them as a story of mutual restraint – an example of Tit for Tat.
A song across no man’s land
Situation
In northern France, a few months after the outbreak of war, trenches face each other: Scots and French on one side, Germans on the other. On Christmas Eve, the Scots play their bagpipes. On the German side, a tenor, Nikolaus Sprink, sings a Christmas carol and climbs out of the trench with a Christmas tree. The Scots answer with music.
Link to the principle
Cooperation begins with a friendly first move. It is risky because it makes you vulnerable. But it is reciprocated, and only the response turns a gesture into a beginning. That is exactly the first step of Tit for Tat.
The truce
Situation
The officers of the three units – the French lieutenant Audebert, the German lieutenant Horstmayer and the Scottish lieutenant Gordon – meet in no man’s land and agree on a truce for the evening. The soldiers exchange chocolate, champagne and photos, and a Scottish priest celebrates Mass. The next day, they bury their dead together and play soccer.
Link to the principle
Reciprocity grows in small steps. Each side gives a little and sees that the other does the same. Trust is not the precondition but the result.
Warning each other
Situation
When the German artillery is about to shell the trenches opposite, Horstmayer offers the French and Scots shelter in the German trench. When the other side fires back afterward, Audebert and Gordon protect the Germans.
Link to the principle
This is the core of the principle: I spare you as long as you spare me. Robert Axelrod devotes a chapter of his book to this phenomenon. In the trench warfare of the First World War, a “live and let live” system emerged along many stretches of the front, in which units spared each other as long as the other side did the same. The reason is the same as in the tournament: the opponents met again and again.
Punishment from above
Situation
Their superiors learn of the fraternization. The German unit is transferred to the Eastern Front, Audebert to Verdun, and the Scottish battalion is disbanded. The bishop sends the priest back to his parish.
Link to the principle
Reciprocity needs repeated encounters. If you cut off the encounters, you destroy the basis of cooperation. The commanders understand this very well. By separating the units, they remove the basis for the restraint.
What the film shows and what it doesn’t
Situation
The film condenses many historical accounts into one story. Some scenes are invented or heightened.
Link to the principle
It shows the friendly side of the principle especially strongly, while the side of retaliation recedes into the background. But the two belong together: the restraint holds only because each side knows that the other could fire back.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- A friendly first step can reverse a spiral.
- Trust grows out of small gestures that are returned.
- Cooperation holds where people meet again and again.
- If you prevent encounters, you destroy cooperation.
- Restraint depends on both sides being able to act otherwise.
Summary
“Joyeux Noël” tells of a Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914. A song is answered with music, the gesture turns into a truce, and the soldiers even protect each other from shelling. The film shows Tit for Tat as a “live and let live” system that holds as long as the opponents keep meeting, and that ends when their commanders separate them.
Sources
- Joyeux Noël, France, Germany, United Kingdom and others 2005, directed by Christian Carion.
- Robert Axelrod: The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books 1984 (chapter on trench warfare).
- Tony Ashworth: Trench Warfare 1914–1918: The Live and Let Live System. London: Macmillan 1980.
