Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Strangest thing about 2010's RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE; here is a patently Scandinavian movie (a Finnish/Swedish/Norwegian co-production) that sometimes plays like it came straight out of Hollywood.  This despite a low budget and a smattering of unimpressive CGI.  As if writer/director Jalmari Helander was paying homage to the elaborate '80s fantasies of Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter.  And set to a thundering, rather generic score by Juri Seppa and Miska Seppa, which sounds like a rejected piece for a product spit out by the Marvel Comics Universe.   

But I liked this loopy reimagining of the Santa Claus legend.  Its story considers a Finnish version of the beloved figure, called Joulupukki, who is also part goat.  A certifiably pagan character who does facilitate holiday festivities and commandeer a reindeer powered sleigh (on land), but also one who frightens the little ones with huge horns sprouting out of his head and even boils them in cauldrons when they misbehave.   In Lapland, a young boy named Pietari (Onni Tommila) and his friend Juuso (Ilmari Jarvenpaa) discover a British team of excavators drilling through a nearby mountain.  Pietari becomes convinced that Joulupukki was buried there centuries ago.  Juuso doesn't believe in Santa anymore. 

Pietari's father Rauno (Jorma Tommila) operates a reindeer slaughterhouse.  Things have been slow lately and the discovery of hundreds of dead reindeer carcasses seems to spell doom for the Kontio family business.  Is there some connection with all of the explosions from that "research" team?   It gets weirder when a bearded, naked man ends up in Rauno's wolf trap.   Later, hordes of other such men emerge from the mountain.  Rabid men who may have kidnapped all the local children.  Who may be in unwavering service to Mr. Claus.  Using profanity around them is unwise. 

Warm, holiday fare? Nah, but surprisingly RARE EXPORTS does have a good deal of heart.  The strained relationship between Pietari and his father is nicely developed, and never maudlin.  Helander makes us care about these people and their rather considerable dilemma.  Many St. Nick tropes are ribbed, while a new (if dark) holiday mini-classic is born.  Some call this a horror movie, and I can see that, but more accurately it can be described as a twisted, highly original fantasy.  Where good prevails and leads to a climax when we learn what the film's title means.  Mika Orasmaa's photography is noteworthy and made this Florida guy envious for a white Christmas.

But I would've found the movie even more endearing if some of the slickery and that intense score were excised.  Minor complaint, though, and I find this film almost good enough to unseat some other Christmas faves for an annual viewing.