CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

adonis98-743-186503 Silent Night is one of those TV Movies that they succeed on every level the film is Fact-based upon World War II the story is set on Christmas Eve, 1944, we find a German Mother and her son seeking refuge in a cabin on the war front. When she is invaded by three American soldiers and then three German soldiers, she successfully convinces the soldiers to put aside their differences for one evening and share a Christmas dinner. I know that most people will say that Terminator and Terminator 2 is Linda Hamilton's best movies and i totally agree with you but her best performance is in this film she speaks German perfectly and she even speaks American like she isn't an actual American herself. I can't describe how perfect this movie is it's not boring, the acting is amazing and the story so touching if they were just more people like Elisabeth out there in this world today we wouldn't have all this hate in us or killing all those innocent people back then but also today in 2016. Anyways if you haven't seen this movie please do it's such an amazing film with a great performance by Linda Hamilton.

justbusinessthebook Another DVD movie that a friend suggested I watch, it is a movie that I would buy for its message. What is disappointing about a movie that I would otherwise rate nearer 10 for the acting, intrigue and drama is that this is yet another movie 'from Hollywood' that really twists the truth to sell a movie.One need only look up the history of one real character, Fritz Vincken. Vincken is portrayed as a young German boy who witnesses a surreal event that is sponsored by his German mother on Christmas Eve, 1944. Persuading American soldiers to make her temporary home a place of neutral refuge on Christmas Eve, she risks execution for treason. The truth is that a German patrol then arrives at the same isolated cabin, agrees to a night of no guns, and actually sups with and helps a wounded American soldier. Both factions then go off in opposite directions to resume the fighting while leaving the boy and mother to survive an incredibly stupid war.The 'based on facts' portrayal in this movie immediately falls apart IF we understand that neither the mother nor the boy understood English. One American soldier spoke French. The German mother also did. This helped in the real situation in the end. Frantic arm waving changed into some words of understanding.Knowing this base fact and the fact that the 'Hollywood' version goes to great extravagance to dramatize the situation may diminish the value of this movie as a record of history. Its value is in the dialogue and emotion. Once again, we have another movie that portrays why our world stumbles along in vast international murder because we have lost all common sense to what our moral duty to each other is.This movie is good in that it does not sell 'Jesus Christ' and Christmas as 'the reason for the season'. It simply illustrates what the bravery of one lady, without a gun, can do to end the senseless killing we seem bent on repeating despite these lessons from our human history.That small fact makes this not-so-fact-based movie still worth watching. I am not so certain that the surviving German son's 1997 interview (by a Honolulu high school student) as to what really happened would make a 'block buster movie'. Still, I will buy this DVD in the end for the compelling messages in the movie.We need to start to heed messages from movies like this to make this world a better place for generations to come.

alansmithee_1 My wife and I discovered this TV movie around the time of its first airing. It's since become a seasonal treat that we enjoy every few years. "Silent Night" is an unconventional Christmas story, in a very different vein from the likes of "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Miracle on 34th Street" (neither of which obliges its characters to cauterize a shrapnel wound with a red-hot knife blade). Yet in our household it remains a small but significant gem, one that eschews holiday sentiment in favour of a powerful, real, and inspiring statement about the human condition.The story itself is straightforward. On Christmas Eve, 1944, two groups of soldiers -- one Allied, one German -- descend separately on a hunting cabin where Elisabeth Vincken and her young son Fritz have taken refuge from air strikes on their city. On Elisabeth's insistence, the soldiers agree to leave their weapons outside and declare the cabin "neutral territory" for the night while they wait out a howling snowstorm. The film then charts both the conflict and the gradual bond that evolves between the opposing sides as they move from hostility and mistrust to an ultimate understanding of their shared humanity. That the story is based on real-life events only further heightens its dramatic impact.I found the film reminiscent of "12 Angry Men" in how this process of mutual acceptance is mediated by a single, morally-driven figure. Elisabeth is effectively a surrogate mother to her guests, the sole female presence in a volatile cauldron of male aggression. I confess that I was initially leery about the choice of Linda Hamilton for this role, for while I'd found her convincing enough as a female Rambo in the "Terminator" series, I was dubious about how well she could pull off a German hausfrau. Happily, my qualms proved short-lived: I was genuinely amazed by how seamlessly Hamilton inhabited her character, conveying warmth, pluck, vulnerability and steel with equal ease and conviction. It's a nicely nuanced turn that instantly elevated her, in my estimation, from a merely capable actress to a consummate performer.The remainder of the cast is made up of relative unknowns. This works to the film's advantage, since we are able to focus more on the characters than on the actors playing them. The performances are uniformly solid, with no false notes that I could detect. It is one of the film's strengths that none of the principals is an absolute hero or villain; each has a sympathetic (and effectively rendered) perspective which fuels both the tension and the eventual coming together of the two sides.The true magic of the movie is how effortlessly it portrays this process, segueing smoothly between baleful looks and lighthearted cheer, violent outbursts and quiet compassion. (Dashes of humour also help move the story along... the homage to "Dueling Banjos," with an American and a German soldier belting out "O Christmas Tree/O Tannenbaum" while relieving themselves in the snow, is a personal favourite.) The basic theme that "we're all more alike than different" can be off-puttingly corny, but in this case it is treated with care and infused with genuine emotional insight to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.My only real quibble with the film is confined to the DVD edition, which inexplicably removes the present-day sequences that bracketed the initial broadcast run. While showing only the flashback portion doesn't dilute the potency of the story, I do feel it removes some of the story's meaning by denying us the chance to see the broader impact of that fateful Christmas Eve on two of the characters' lives. I would recommend seeing the fuller version (with present-day scenes intact) if at all possible, for a deeper, richer appreciation of its timeless themes.

Armand A story about Chistmas. Withaut Santa, carols or ethical lesson. A story about the differences between people as only little shadows, about the force of every mother , about the colors of war and its essential nuances. So, it is difficult to say if it is god, bad, spectacular or boring. Because this film is, in fact, a form of pray. Self definition. And testimony of a night which lives in every soul. In few words, food for soul. An experience. And invitation to define what is important in our lives. The recipes is same of Hallmark movies. But , i believe, it is a moment, in interesting times, when movies like it may be tasted for not have the feature of a shadow.