Rare Exports: A Christmas story is a 2010 movie (IMDB) that is coming to us from a Finnish director Jalmari Helander. The story revolves around an archaeological dig in Finland that accidentally uncovers Santa Claus. To say more is to spoil the story. However, it follows the little boy that runs around and tries to get people to take him seriously despite making absurd claims about the excavations on the mountain appear to be.
The director created a short story called “Rare Exports, Inc.” in 2003 that created a big buzz online. This got people to wonder if a feature length is in works. In 2005 another short was released called “Rare Exports: The Official Safety Instructions”. This helped to drum up even more of an interest into a bring movie to the big screen.
When the movie came out in 2010, it received praise for being a unique take on a Christmas story. With the movie being spoken in Finnish with subs, we get to see the unique struggles to survive. On top of this, the story also showed us a mysterious dig on top of a mountain. This also serves to show vast expense of snow and frigid whether that the characters spend most of their time. It’s almost like saying “life is bad, but it will get much worse”
As the story progresses, the little boy named Pietari runs around and tries not to intrude on his dad’s tasks. At the same time he is trying to find out more what the mountain hides. Seeing that it is a Christmas movie, when when Santa Clause comes into the picture, he is terrifying. Claus is a grizzled old man, stark naked and skinny as a branch. He does not speak and doesn’t cooperate well, forcing Pietari’s dad to go about looking for ways to get rid of him. Therefore, he hopes to get a reward that would keep food on the table.
Going forward, the Rare Exports: A Christmas story turns into a dark comedy filled with moments of insanity. It starts to make you question your belief in Santa and what he really stands for. Keep in mind that there is some CGI that doesn’t look good. You can definitely see the budget restrictions the movie faced. For example, in one scene we see a lot of things climbing a mountain. The effect and rendering makes them look like stick figures. However, I think it is used sparingly so it doesn’t pull you away from the story.
In short, a fun enjoyable flick with few laughs here and there and a cast that are all nice. NOTE: This movie features quite a lot of male frontal nudity. If offended by this or have a small children present, please be advised.
P.S currently the full movie is available for FREE on Tubi TV
Mike
