Advent is nearly upon us, so like the rest of Oxford, it is high time Cherwell got into the festive mood. And what better way to do this than help our readers get their heads around what constitutes a good Christmas film? So there we are: sipping a glass of mulled wine, sitting in front of a roaring fireplace listening to Frank tell us how he’s got some corn for popping, and flicking through the two week bumper edition of the Radio Times desperately trying to decide what to watch.
Do we opt for Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life, focusing on death, suicide and Christian moralising? Or maybe we wish to watch Scrooge yet again learn that basic human emotions are actually quite enjoyable? Or perhaps a film about a clinically insane man ranting about being Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street? Ultimately, we do want one of the above, as Christmas is not a time for cynicism or critical viewing, but a time for much willing suspension of disbelief and hope that the world can be a nice place, at least for two hours or so.
However, there may be some Christmas classics that have slipped under the radar. Take for example the French film Joyeux Noel, which plays on the heartstrings in a very compelling and moving fashion. It’s set around the World War I Christmas truce, in which a temporary ceasefire was called and British, French and German soldiers came together to celebrate the day Christ was born. Of course, it would not be long before their superiors gave orders to the contrary, but for a short while it was “Joyeux Noël”, “Frohe Weihnachten” and “Merry Christmas” all around. The Shop Around the Corner is rather more light- hearted, a 1940s rom-com starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan as the leading couple. Your usual tale of two feisty youths convinced they do not like one another gradually realising that in fact they do. It is arguably the founder of Yuletide rom-com.
A Christmas Carol is perhaps one of the more heartwarming Christmas films, as we watch mean old Ebenezer learn from the error of his ways and become a good person. The best version is of course the one that sees Kermit and Miss Piggy step to the fore with the rest of the Muppets, singing and dancing their way through the various ghostly confrontations.
One does not immediately associate gratuitous violence with Christmas, but the 1984 gore-fest Gremlins proved that the two go together beautifully, and with hilarious consequences. However, scarier than little green knawing monsters is Father Christmas himself gone psycho. So it’s decapitation for the naughty children and survival for the good ones in Silent Night, Deadly Night; a night of terror for the trapped, scantily clad teens in Black Christmas and death-by-snowman in the atrocious Jack Frost. For those who still like violence, but of a more action-packed variety, then Bruce Willis single-handedly taking on a skyscraperload of terrorists all to the sound of merry Christmas tunes proves to be compulsive viewing.
However, sharp-teethed, pint-sized green monsters and big gun-wielding musclemen aside, the title of top Christmas film must go to a wonderfully British rom-com that is actually ten rom-coms in one. Yes, it is Love Actually, filled with enough Colin Firth wetness, Martine McCutcheon chubbiness and big-boobed blonde girls to keep the whole family happy. Providing you can overcome the trademark Keira Knightley letterbox grin and Hugh Grant being cast as a sour Prime Minister, you’ll realise just how funny it is.
