Director: John Stephenson
Cast: Hans Matheson, Samantha Barks, Susan Boyle

Many years ago, when I was a high school student, I went with a group of my high school peers to a rival high school. The reason for that was that the rival high school was putting on a performance of Fiddler On The Roof, and The Powers That Be at my high school thought it would be a good thing for me and my classmates to see. There are two things about that particular performance of that musical play that I remember deeply after all of these years. The first thing was that three times during the performance, one of the cast pushed a hand cart carrying a large metal milk container across the stage, and each time the lid of the milk container accidentally fell off and hit the stage floor with a big CLANG! (And each time that happened, the audience let out a big laugh.) The second thing that I remember about this particular stage performance was the opening musical number, which you might know is simply titled Tradition. The character of Tevye in the musical number basically tells the audience about the various people (and their various important roles) in his village, and how they try to keep their particular niche of society alive and vibrant by following various traditions that they have been following for hundreds of years. All these years later, when I think about that song, with a little additional thought I am struck that with every corner of the world - and ever since humanity first started to exist - a number of traditions can be found. I'm not just talking about the obvious, such as with religion or with the arts, but also with aspects of society such as law and government. Although I think there are many reasons for using tradition, the main reasons I think tradition has been clung to for so long is for an attempt to keep order and an idea of working towards a greater good. We all need to feel safe and a part of something important.

Of course, as the centuries have passed ever since mankind was introduced, various traditions have come and gone. That's inevitable, because as new things and new ideas are introduced, we have to adjust to them. And that means sometimes that some things must be abandoned in order to make sure a better way of life can happen. Though there have certainly been times when a loss of a tradition is a real loss for humanity, and things have managed to become worse for some or for all. Going back to my younger years once again, I remember something that I read in an Archie comic story. Archie and his friends in the story were looking at old Christmas-related photographs of their long-passed relatives. During their discussion, the question as to what their ancient relatives did after their traditional Christmas dinner was brought up. And it was revealed that their relatives of all ages would gather together. "What about the generation gap?" one of the Archie gang pondered out loud. It was then explained that since there was no television or radio, and then in the next panel it showed a picture of youths and adults singing around a piano (with a Bible placed prominently on the other side of the panel), and the text in the panel read, "They sang hymns... and read 'The Good Book'." In the remaining portion of the comic story, the Archie gang reflected how happy their ancestors must have been, and while at the beginning of the story they had been knocking their kooky ancestors, they then thought that maybe they should instead honor their ancestors' warm traditions.

Years later, I read a reprint of that particular Archie comic story, and I noticed to my great amusement that it had been edited so that the text in that key panel now just read, "They sang hymns..." - no mention of The Good Book, even though the image of it was still prominently pictured. It was interesting to see how even in the Archie world, attitudes to Christmas had changed over the years. For that matter, it's interesting to see how attitudes to the Christmas holiday has changed over the years, from Santa Claus' evolution to people waiting for the day after Christmas so they can indulge in Boxing Day sales at stores. Christmas being modernized is endlessly interesting, which was the main appeal of The Christmas Candle when I found it in a Wal-Mart bargain bin. Here's the plot description from the back of the DVD box that intrigued me: "Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end. When David Richmond (Hans Matheson, Clash Of The Titans), a progressive young minister, arrives in Gladbury, the villages discover a new formula for miracles: good deeds and acts of kindness. While David's guest to modernize Gladbury sets him at odds with the old world candlemaker, he finds an unlikely ally in the lovely skeptic, Emily Barstow (Samantha Barks, Les Miserables). Now, the fiery candlemaker must fight to preserve the legacy of the Christmas Candle. But when the candle goes missing, the miraculous and human collide in the most astonishing Christmas the village of Gladbury has ever seen."

Part of me was not looking forward to watching The Christmas Candle just from what I saw on the DVD box, specifically that the Dove Foundation had given it its highest recommendation. From that, I concluded that the movie would shove religion down my throat. Fortunately, the movie isn't anywhere as bad at that as some other Christian movies I've seen. True, the opening few minutes of the movie do depict miracles happening because of clear otherworldly forces, not leaving the least bit of doubt there's a heaven, God, etc. However, the movie does subsequently soften this message in a manner that even the non-religious will find palatable. The movie does bring up some deep questions, like when the doubting David asks out loud why there's only a candle blessing every 25 years, why only one candle is blessed at a time, and so forth; we actually get to subsequently hear a sound argument for the other side of the debate. Another thing appealing about The Christmas Candle's religious side is that it does admit that sometimes just praying and having faith is not enough or even incorrect. For example, there is one character who becomes greatly ill, and instead of going for treatment says, "God will either cure me or call me home." Although this character's wife does not comment, you can still tell she's not fully accepting of her husband's philosophy. Earlier in the movie, David in one of his sermons makes clear that a lot of time we have to help our fellow man by ourselves, not just by praying and leaving positive change up to God. And even then, we have to work to our full potential to help others, not just doing something like ladle out soup for the poor, as one character tells David in the first few minutes.

The movie's perspective on religion makes sense and I don't think anyone would be offended by it. The movie also seems to be making comments on the issue of how Christians should accept new ideas and practices as they come into society, but this is somewhat less successful. While there is sometimes a sound argument that new ways of thinking should be introduced slowly and with gentle persuasion to people who have long held beliefs (David's modern thinking in sermons sometimes upsets his congregation), other times it's done in a heavy-handed fashion. Guess what happens when David installs electric lights in the church and turns them on for the first time to his parishioners. The script has a few other issues that should have been smoothed over before filming started. It's not made exactly clear how after the first miracle candle centuries ago that subsequent generations figured exactly how it would work well into the future. There are a few other unanswered questions like that as well, but much more of a problem is how the heart of the story unfolds. Each scene admittedly doesn't go on for too long, but it doesn't manage to completely hide the fact that the central story is crawling along not only at a pretty slow pace, but sometimes also feeling a little aimless. I was never bored, but a little more juice would have helped. Also, the movie seems to be (very) slowly building up to a big emotional climax, but it's kind of a letdown, coming across almost as a matter of fact. This and the slow pace seem to also come from the direction of John Stephenson. He seems to be a little reluctant to put great emotion or other great energy into key moments, and because of this it's sometimes hard to get involved with what's happening on the screen. Still, despite working with a low budget, he manages for the most part to give the movie a sound look and feel - you can really sense the cold air and the rustic atmosphere of this small village, and the few moments of special effects look okay on the small screen.

Director Stephenson did have a challenge in The Christmas Candle that seems to have befuddled him, but I think any director would have the same difficulty. The movie has the acting debut of Susan Boyle, the overnight British singing sensation from several years back. Naturally, in the movie she gets to sing a few times, and her singing voice is wonderful. Her acting, however, is another issue. In almost all of her scenes, she seems to be barely holding back nervousness and uncertainty, resulting in her talking blandly or keeping her gaze focused on the tiles of the floor she's standing on. I can only imagine how things would have been like if she was more than a minor supporting player. Fortunately, the other players in the movie manage to do at least an adequate performance. As the principle leads, Hans Matheson and Samantha Barks do show some life and dimension. They are both careful to not go overboard in any emotional moment - that would be wrong for a very serious British production such as this - but they show believable sparks, especially when paired up in a scene. I enjoyed that their performances, along with their scripted dialogue, depicted these two characters getting along without any contrived sudden romancing or lovers' quarreling. However, their characters' pasts and a few other features of their personalities seem quite vague at times, and both actors have to struggle a few times to compensate for that. But their struggles were enough, since even though the story is mostly predictable, their efforts and most other things in The Christmas Candle are competently done. The viewing experience can be compared to an old friend who no longer has any surprises for you, but you still enjoy his or her company whenever you meet. While the movie is no Christmas movie classic, it is all the same fairly pleasant and agreeable.

(Posted November 29, 2024)