Generally, movies set in and around Christmas attempt to cash in on the happy feelings associated with the holiday season, and for almost 100 years now Hollywood has consistently produced Christmas movies whose story always remains the same – some kind of retelling of A Christmas Carol, without any of the actual dark parts from the book. Usually, a figure too caught up in the commercialist side of Christmas is reminded of what really matters through festive cheer and song.
But some films use common Christmas themes and turn them on their head. For me, these are usually the best ones to watch while warm and full on Christmas morning. Perhaps this started with The Apartment, a movie that included a scene of a woman attempting a Christmas-themed suicide. Set around Christmas, and though definitely a comedy, The Apartment’s tale of womanising, lying, promiscuity, suicide and despair definitely broke with the Christmas spirit.
This is the fundamental gift of the “anti-Christmas” movie, one that sets a story within a backdrop of the most wonderful time of the year, with subject matter generally pertaining to peace, love, redemption and hope – and creates a movie that shows humans revelling in the darker side of their nature. The contrast plays beautifully.
Lethal Weapon, again though a comedy, has that brilliantly directed scene where a half-naked woman jumps to her death while “Jingle Bell Rock” plays in the background. In Bruges, the ultimate cult film, is entirely set during Christmas time. The ridiculousness of the whole situation is accentuated by the Christmas lights, large decorated trees and children playing in snow – and were In Bruges not set at Christmas, that melancholy end line – “There’s a Christmas tree somewhere in London with a bunch of presents underneath it that’ll never be opened” – would never have been possible.
It’s not just comedies that rely on this feeling of “anti-Christmas” to distort emotion on the screen. Plenty of award winners have done just the same. Edward Scissorhands, set at Christmas, has at its heart alienation and loneliness, seems to be based upon the central theme that some people just don’t belong and must choose either loneliness or being used. This is not quite the Christmas spirit. Consider too the opening scenes of LA Confidential, a detective story as dark as they come. All three characters show their ruthlessness and personality on Christmas Eve: one beats a wife beater into a coma, another ruins the life of a young man for media fame, and another brushes off the friendship and companionship of his fellow cops. The tone of the rest of the movie is set then when a mass drunken brawl breaks out in a jail, with the violence shown in visceral reality. The movie does this for a good purpose – the primary theme of the movie is that in 1930’s LA, no one is genuine and nobody has a happy life. The American Dream has withered and died. The opening, showing violence, anger and hatred on Christmas Eve, leaves the audience with no doubt that these are men whose life is nothing else.
Epic movies too often use this for their key scenes. The Godfather uses this to good effect, with the movie’s precipice event taking place during Christmas. We see what the future Michael Corleone could have had, as he walks out of the cinema with Kay, the image of the Christmas spirit of family and love. Then he hears word of his father’s assassination attempt and changes immediately. He sends Kay home without further word and goes home to plan his actions. More recently, Spotlight had a brilliant scene where the hero walks into a church at Christmas time, exhausted and almost ready to give up his investigation into the Catholic hierarchy. There he sees a choir of children singing carols, while clergy speak at the altar. His face hardens, a steely look comes into his eye. Children singing carols is among the most innocent and hopeful imagery in cinema and Spotlight tinges this by reminding us of the child sex abuse scandals within the Church.
They may not be at the heart of what Christmas is all about and, indeed, may not fill you full of cheer, but this season, when sitting down to watch TV, why not think about giving Die Hard or any other kind of “anti-Christmas” film a shot? After all, you can’t be happy for the whole 12 days.
