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Review: ‘Rare Exports’ (Grade: B+)
Thanks to children’s books, the Salvation Army, bouncy holiday tunes and the wondrous marketing department of Coca-Cola, we’ve come to know Santa Claus as a paunchy, jolly elf whose benevolence is the hallmark of the holiday season.
But over in the endlessly fascinating lands of Scandinavia, there’s a different tale that circulates about the origin of this allegedly kind fat man who travels the world with a bag full of toys. As we come to discover in “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale,” this dark, horned creature has little interest in rewarding good little boys and girls. He wants to punish the bad ones.
Young Pietari (Onni Tommila) lives in the barren northern parts of Finland with his single father, Rauno (Jorma Tommila), a butcher. When Rauno and his friends discover their herd of reindeer slaughtered, they blame wolves they assume have been scattered by explosions ignited by the furtive scientists of Subzero Inc., who are conducting covert blasting experiments atop nearby Korvatunturi Mountain.
But Pietari knows better. He has done his research and knows what evil lurks beneath the mountain. The fairy tales he has been reading have alerted him to the fact that centuries ago the indigenous Sami people trapped an evil Santa Claus — one who would spank bad children into pieces — in ice and buried him deep under a pile of rocks. Certainly the explosions nearby will lead to the escape of this fiendish character.
Pietari takes to reading footprints like tea leaves, as he huddles in fear of the coming holiday and the vengeance of Santa Claus.
Concerned with his failing business and mystified by the mass disappearance of reindeer, Rauno dismisses his son’s fabulous concerns until a strange, bearded man — or is he sub-human? — appears on their property. Only Pietari knows for certain the provenance of this dark magic onto which they have stumbled.
His worst nightmares realized, an emboldened Pietari transforms into an action hero as he attempts to save his friends and family from the evil Santa Claus and his horde of hideous helpers.
God bless those darkly perverse and hilarious Scandinavians.
At its core, director Jalmari Helander’s unique twist on an old folktale is a touching story about the fantastic imagination of children and the strength of familial bonds. Cinematographer Mika Orasmaa brings brown and golden warmth candied with reds and greens to the brutally stark Finnish countryside, and the sweeping score is both haunting and enchanting.
Adults tired of hackneyed and saccharine storytelling will be equally amused and disturbed by this Finnish export that is indeed rare and bizarrely wonderful.
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