Offside - short World War I film based on true events

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Truce

this film is a joke and a shame realy. the reality is both sides most probably met up on the close parts of the tranches after hearing eachother singing .what thay would have done is spent most the time romoving corpses from the nomans land and berrying them. maby a cuple of them kicked a ball around but im pritty sure mostly it wud have been singing of some songs and maby a shaking of hands. whoever directed this totaly abused artistick lisence and to say based on true events is a a bit of a push.

seeknowsage says...

You know, "based on true events" doesn't exactly mean "this really and absolutely happened without a shadow of a doubt". This IS based on true events to the extent that for a brief moment on Christmas in 1914, both Germans and the British laid down arms and shared a mutual respite in hostilities. THAT is well represented in this film and I think whoever created it did an excellent job in conveying that, even if it was through a situation that may or may not have happened.

Of course, since it is your word against history and those recounted by the men that were actually there (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/truce.asp, http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm, http://www.lib.byu.edu/~english/WWI/historical/ChristmasTruce.html, http://expage.com/truce1, etc.), such a situation obviously couldn't have happened. Moreover, if you had bothered to read the above link, you would have seen that such an instance was apocryphal, and that men from both sides did indeed congregate to bury their dead and sing songs in addition to exchanging gifts.

rembar

says...

A friend's grandfather, who was in the trenches on Christmas, once related his own experience during the Christmas Truce to me and my friends during a holiday break. It moved us to tears, and was something that I will never forget. To put aside all the worries and troubles of our much-to-serious lives and just remember for a few moments that we are all humans living in the same world, and to celebrate that simple fact....perhaps I'm just a romantic, but I believe THAT is as close to the spirit of Christmas as people can get.

calvados

says...

Deserves more votes.

gorgonheap

says...

I agree calvados, *promote this gem.

siftbot

says...

Re-promoting this video to the front page as a VideoSift Classic. Originally published on Thursday 21st September 2006 (promotion called by gold star member gorgonheap)