The Other Side of Christmas

By: Dzimas

Christmas is not all about guardian angels or whether Santa is real or not, it can take many interesting and exciting twists and turns. Looking at the list of popular Christmas movies, I was stunned not to see Fanny and Alexander, which begins with one of the most memorable cinematic Christmas scenes. Ingmar Bergman presents what is perhaps his most compelling and certainly most personal film. But then Christmas films generally tend to be filtered through a Hollywood lens. Here is my humble effort to correct a few oversights.

One of my favorites is The Apartment. Ostensibly, this film is not about Christmas but it has a great scene in a diner that perfectly captures C.C. Baxter’s situation and disillusionment with the season.

Another favorite is The Irony of Fate, which is ostensibly a New Year’s film about waking up in the wrong apartment in Leningrad. Of course, Christmas couldn’t be officially celebrated, yet one sees the Christmas tree in the apartment and a number of playful reminders to the season. Here are a few scenes from this wonderful film.

Comfort and Joy also takes place during the Yuletide season with a Glasgow DJ getting unwittingly caught up in an ice cream war. Here’s the full film.

Hard to imagine, but Brazil similarly revolves around Christmas when the stormtroopers come crashing into poor Mr. Buttle’s apartment.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg starts in December and ends in December, but provides a long musical romance in between, opening with this whimsical scene in an automobile repair shop.

I suppose it is not surprising that Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence doesn’t get much play during the Yuletide season, as it explores some rather unsettling themes during this time of year.