Rare Exports: The Truth About Santa
Directed by:
Jalmari HelanderScreenplay:
Jalmari HelanderCinematography:
Mika OrasmaaCast:
Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen, Ilmari Järvenpää, Peeter Jakobi, Jonathan Hutchings, Risto Salmi (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
It is the week before Christmas when young and adventurous Pietari uncovers the truth about Santa Claus. Legend has it that the jolly old man is more of a foe than a friend. A group of American scientists is also looking to uncover some facts in Pietari’s quiet rural town in northern Finland. It turns out that the most well-kept Christmas secret ever lies 500 meters below ground. This dark secret and Pietari unleash an unforeseen chain of events, after which, Christmas will never, ever, be the same again. (Icon Home Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (3)
A brilliant horror comedy and very different from my original expectations. It’s really nice to sometimes come across flights of fancy like this. What’s a real shame, however, are the last twenty minutes, when Rare Exports suffers a lot from the unnecessary use of the annoying clichés of family films (up to then it’s almost pure horror comedy). The epilogue reminiscent of the original short pulls things a little up again and I’m giving it 80%. In any case, Rare Exports will surely become a cult Christmas movie.
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An awesome introduction to the legend of Christmas without the distractions of American commercialism. The Finns have gone wild again, and if they'd known Impaled Rectum back in 2010, it's clear who would have made the soundtrack to this joyous Christmas adventure. Finnish filmmaking may not be among the world's most popular, but I like their sense of humor very much, so I really enjoyed this Christmas story featuring the quirky Sami, reindeer, Santa, and elves. I had a great time, and even though Pietari was the main character, my personal favorite was definitely Piiparinen.
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The Finnish-Norwegian-French-Swedish production Rare Exports is definitely a surprising movie. It is really dark, as only Nordic movies can be, although, at the same time, it is also interesting to watch because you get the point of view of a child protagonist, and the movie has great visuals. You can see that Jalmari Helander has put a lot of effort into these aspects of the movie.
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