A British archaeological team arrive in Finland to take drill core samples from the Korvantunturi mountains, a local fell believed to be the home of Joulupukki, a Finnish folklore figure who inspired contemporary versions of Santa Claus. Eavesdropping on them are two local boys, Juuso (Onni Tommila) and Pietari (Ilmari Jarvenpaa), who naturally are immediately fascinated. Then they go home and Juuso reads up on Santa, learning that he, at least here, was once quite naughty and not so nice himself. When local children start disappearing Juuso and Pietari start thinking that may be still true, and they try to spread word about it to their families. Now Juuso and his father Piiparinen (Rauno Juvonen) implement a plan to recover this Santa and give him to the company behind the archaelogical expedition to save the disappearing children. But this backfires when Juuso becomes one of them, and Santa's angry elves launch a recovery mission of their own.
I'd call this 2010 Finnish gem a family-friendly Christmas horror/fantasy fable. Writer-director Jalmari Helander seemingly draws upon holiday films as disparate as The Polar Express, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Gremlins and then mixes them together through his own country's folklore to concoct a Christmas movie unlike any other I've ever seen before, and it's evident he thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale also gave me a very vivid insight into a culture and lifestyle entirely bereft of mine (I'm not even from the northern hemisphere, after all), and there's nothing more refreshing to me than the otherworldly feeling such a feeling can bring via art. I mean, just for starters in several scenes the characters wear shorts while walking in thick snow! (This also reminded me of a former neighbour of mine (RIP) from Norway, who never had to rug up for the Australian winter.) But I digress; the point of this movie, as with most, is the narrative, and that narrative enchanted me the entire way. It manages to be dark, whimsical, entertaining, intelligent and even somewhat touching near the end. Plus, the technical elements are strong even for a $2 million budget, and Juri and Miska Seppa's music is consistently fitting.
This one may be called Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, but more than rare exports it delivers a rare treat.
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