CINEMA: Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Well kids, it’s official; the Coca Cola Santa is just a hoax.

That’s right, for years all the adults have been lying and Santa is actually a blood thirsty, cruel devil of a being who really shouldn’t be let out on Christmas Eve, or any other eve for that matter.

Such is the premise of this wonderfully random, black and magical take on the Christmas tale made all the more ‘out there’ by Finnish director/writer Jalmari Helander’s skewed view on life.

In a snowbound northern Finnish village a bunch of Americans is intent on blowing the top off a mountain. But why? Young Pietari (Onni Tommila) and his mate are desperate to find out. But neither is allowed to stray far from home because as Pietari’s father says, the wolves are howling in hunger and could be very dangerous. So when something kills all the villagers’ prized herd of reindeer and steals the meat from the wolf trap, they know something big and probably bad is up.

But Pietari is convinced the killing of the reindeer and the goings on at the mountain are connected and have nothing to do with wolves. For Pietari has been doing some research (albeit in books of fairy tales) and is sure the wolves have been falsely accused, while something much more ancient, dangerous and deadly is to blame.

It’s at this point the film goes off on a totally tangential flight of fancy that is as amusing as it is dark. And just when you think you’ve got a handle on what’s going to happen next it takes yet another random jump into the blue — complete with potato sacks, radiators, gingerbread, a helicopter and one enormous chainsaw. Even the final coda contains not so much a twist but an additional piece of plotting that will have you laughing out loud.

This is a movie for fathers and sons to bond over (there are no female characters, Santa is male and all his ‘little helpers’ are bewhiskered old men), although it is Pietari who ends up teaching his father a thing or two and Onni Tommila in the main role is a delightful mix of naivety, nervousness and growing conviction and courage.

In Tinseltown’s make believe kingdom of Christmas this should not go down well. However, it is such a welcome and refreshing antidote to the usual anodyne fake snow and bonhomie of the festive season, don’t be surprised if Hollywood comes up with a remake in time for next winter.