Whilst Christmas-celebrating people at this time of year are making their lists and checking them twice, the sanctuary of the cinema usually becomes a safe house and the films within provide the perfect hide-out from fairy lights, excessive shopping and dreaded family gatherings. This year, however, Finnish writer/director Jalmari Helander has made it his seasonal duty to give us a very special, if not creepy, Christmas gift. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale unwraps a quirky tale of the “real” Santa, and this year old St. Nick is not feeling particularly giving or jolly…
Departing from Christmas tradition and turning to the traditions of the horror genre instead, Helander sets his story along the Fin-Russian border, at the base of the Korvatunturi Mountains. As Christmas approaches, excavators halt their drills and evacuate themselves from atop the mountain in reaction to a strange, ancient discovery packed in ice some 486 meters deep: enter inquisitive child protagonist Pietari (Onni Tommila) and his need to live up to his father’s expectations and prove himself as a man. This motherless boy, no more than twelve years old, possesses a look so far from the conventional Hollywood boy that his indigenous Sami-Nordic features and D.I.Y mullet haircut heighten the eerie atmosphere and compliment the dark, cold cinematography of Mika Orasmaa. There is a similar feel to the look of this film that was a talking point for Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 vampire chiller Let the Right One In.
As Pietari’s curiosity gets the better of him, he feels responsible for the mishappenings that are sabotaging the Christmas season for those around him – particularly the loss of an entire reindeer herd, $80,000 worth of lost meat, which stands to economically ruin the slaughterhouse men of the area, including Pietari’s dad, Rauno (Jorma Tommila). As the young kids of Pietari’s town also start to go missing, the adults are forced to take notice to the pieces of the puzzle that our hero has put together… and prepare themselves for what is approaching, come the eve of December 25th.
Rare Exports is an inventive take on the origins of Santa, and poses to eclipse the likes of A Christmas Carol, The Santa Claus Trilogy and Miracle on 31st Street as a very different kind of family favourite for the season. The way that Pietari and his father turn their problems into profits is hilariously funny, and their rare exports are a truly unique enterprise. Unfortunately, Jalmari Helander sidesteps a true visual revelation of the monster we wait all movie to see, and this feels like a real disappointment given the excellent tension he builds. The second downfall of this film lies in reverting to third-rate special effects in the climax, which drastically lowers the production values that would otherwise be considered world class.
On an up beat, the thrilling tale intertwines perfectly with Pietari’s simple coming of age story and, overall, the film is a great feature length tribute to the short films that made Jalmari Helander a Youtube sensation.
Verdict:
An enjoyable Christmas/coming of age tale that will make adults re-think any desire to sell the Santa Claus story to their kiddies… and all without a bible-bashing sub-plot in sight.
