Normally, as followers of this blog may have perceived, I hate Christmas and everything to do with it. The commercialism, the stress that pervades everyone's life until well after Boxing Day- leave it out I say. Go and spend Christmas in Morocco, or skiing somewhere (that's worked for me in the past; try Austria, where they have their big meal and presents on Christmas Eve and the Big Day is almost like a normal day, especially on the pistes).
But, courtesy of a number of Christmas movies I have found myself watching in the past couple of weeks, it somehow feels different this year. It started with a mega production called The Nativity Story, made in 2008 and approved by no lesser authority than the Vatican itself. They were mortified, perhaps understandably, when it emerged later that the 17 year-old actress playing the virgin was in fact in the early stages of pregnancy during the filming. Apparently this affected the box office in devout Italy, though for me it was a pretty serviceable re-telling of the old story, non-immaculate conception notwithstanding.
Then there was the 2009 British film Nativity, a generally awful movie saved by the excellence of Martin Freeman as the schoolteacher who wants to mount the best goddam nativity play ever produced. Next came Elf, a film every bit as good as Nativity was bad, so good in fact that in its transcendent happiness and life affirming qualities it has perhaps become the It's a Wonderful Life of the Millennium.
Finally the two versions of Miracle on 34th Street. The first, made in 1947 and featuring the estimable Edmund Gwenn as the Santa nobody can bring themselves to believe in until it is made obvious to everyone that he is indeed the real deal, is one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. It didn't need to suffer the ignominy of a remake, but they did it anyway in 1994, with Dickie ("darling") Attenborough as Santa. To be fair, he did make a pretty fair fist of it in the event, but, as I say, it wasn't really necessary. How do you improve on perfection? Answer: you can't, stupid, so don't even try.
And there we have it. Through the medium of cinema I have made myself believe again- in the fun, the family and even the underlying meaning of it all. I'm ready for you Xmas! Bring it on!
And while I'm still in a good mood (my wife pointed out one unerring truth: I'm feeling good because Christmas Eve is definitely better than Christmas Day)- may I wish a very happy Christmas to all my readers! And may all your Christmases be relatively stress free...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment