RARE EXPORTS

Finland, 2010, 84 minutes, Colour.
Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila.
Directed by Jalmari Helander.

Forget miracles on 34th Street and Kris Kringle, forget Tim Allen and Santa Clauses – even forget St Nicholas. While it is sub-titled for English language distribution, A Christmas Tale, this is not anything like what you may have been expecting.

Whether it’s the climate in Finland or something in the venison diet, the Finns have made a succession of films which are heavily ironic, black comedies from directors like Aki Kaurismaki (he of the Leningrad Cowboys). Writer-director, Jalmari Helander, is obviously in this tradition. It is his story, his writing and direction as well as the striking production design. His brother collaborated with the effects and the computer work.

In under 80 minutes, we are taken into another world, way up north in Lapland where we might have thought a nice Santa Claus and his elves work heartily away making the toys for all the gifts for children everywhere. But, this Lapland is a rugged place, peopled by tough men and labourers with reindeer herds and butcheries, trying to earn their living in snowbound villages.

But, there is a mysterious company excavating a mountain, with a mysterious, English-speaking entrepreneur who has been wanting to dig into Santa’s workshop since he was a child.

Ah, Santa. Two young boys trespass and hear some of the plans. Our hero, a younger boy who lives with his father, finds as many books as he can to discover what the truth is behind the Santa story. What is revealed is even grimmer than some of the Norse myths. Santa looks like a monster who, elsewhere, would surely be serving a long-term jail sentence for his brutality against children. He seems to have been into spanking. The books show us some alarming images.

When the reindeer herd is killed, there is a herdsman uprising against the excavators. The fantasy then gets fiercer as a motley group of elderly naked elves are rounded up and the little boy confronts a monstrous Santa.

Obviously, this is not a Christmas film for children (unless you empathise with this Santa and want to frighten and punish them!). It is very much a Christmas film for adults who like an intriguingly offbeat dramas which are haunted by the eerie wintry atmosphere of the Arctic Circle and get audiences thinking about Christmas (without reference at all to the gospel and historical origins) and, especially, its commercialism.

However, the twist at the end is not in the direction of idealism at all. The pragmatic Laplanders are unhappy about losing their livelihood and, after their confrontation with Santa’s helpers, they find their own way of exploiting the situation with some rare exports.

Someone who really won’t like this film is red-nosed Rudolph!

1. Black and bleak perspective on Christmas? On Santa Claus? Traditions from Finland? The film showing books, pictures of a diabolical Santa Claus?
2. The setting in Lapland? Winter snow, the mountains, the Santa Claus mountain? The fields of the reindeer? The excavation equipment? The excavation itself? The homes? Rugged?
3. The irony of the title? From reindeer to Santa’s elves?
4. The situation, the excavation, the international company, the engineer and the conferences, the pressure on him to excavate? The owner, talking about his childhood, about Santa Claus, his aim to find and Santa Claus? His motivations?
5. The two boys, their friendship, on the site, cutting the fence, being responsible for the slaughter of the reindeer? Their overhearing the plans? The course of action?
6. The little boy, relationship with his father, at home, his father as the butcher, the situation with the reindeer? His feelings of guilt about the slaughter? Santa Claus, the boys and the books, the pictures, the legends of an evil Santa Claus, capturing the children, beating them? Devil imagery?
7. Counting down the days before Christmas? The capture of the boys? Including the little boy’s friend?
8. The discussions about ice packing, the whole mountain being a tomb for Santa Claus, his evil deeds in the past?
9. Finding the elf, capturing him? The excavation, the depth, going down further, finding the elves, putting them together, old men, naked in the shower, dressed in white?
10. Revenge for the slaughter of the reindeer? The packing company, the exports? The boy with his calculation of the price for the elves? Plus GST?
11. The packing of the elves, the rare export?
12. The tone of the film, a Finnish sense of humor, irony? Audience response in Finland, in Scandinavia, in Europe, the rest of the world?