For many people, a familiar pastime in the weeks leading up to major winter holidays is gathering with family members and watching holiday movies, be they in a theater or on television. This year, such plans will have changed for individuals not living with the people they often spend time with during the holiday season, and curfews and lock-downs have forced movie theaters to close. However, this shouldn’t stop us from enjoying holiday movies with friends and family.
During the month of December, therefore, the Falls Free Press will present “The 12 Films of Christmas,” focusing on new holiday movies for the year 2020—a year that can do with plenty of spirit. We will review each film, whether naughty or nice, and let you know where to watch it.
A Christmas movie that suggests Nazis can be really nice, horrible people live in the suburbs, and some Jewish people do celebrate Christmas. This is not what would be expected from The Santa Box, but upon researching the film and is production company, Covenant Communications—a publisher of books and movies that reflect the values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as their own line of home decor and women’s clothing—this summary still only mostly fit such a film.
Teenager Kallie Watts believes her family is haunted by a “Christmas curse,” which has affected them for the past five years. First, her father was diagnosed with cancer and died, then they their home as a result of unpaid medical bills. Soon after, the family were victims of a car accident, then Kallie’s grandfather died, and then their apartment burned down on Thanksgiving when a neighbor chose to deep fry a turkey. Now having moved to a small California suburb, Kallie and her mother are greeted by a neighborhood overflowing with Christmas decor and Nelly, a frighteningly snotty-in-attitude neighbor who only cares about herself.
In offering a helping hand to their other neighbor, an older German man named Otto whom the rest of the town claims is a Nazi hiding under their noses, the mother and daughter become good friends with him, helping where they can in his yard. Although it turns out that Otto is Jewish, he still celebrates Christmas, explaining that he loves the holiday’s festive nature. Unfortunately for Otto, Nelly controls the neighborhood and insists on getting Otto evicted from his home.
Meanwhile, Kallie discovers a mysterious wooden box on her front step, containing a scroll addressed to her. The scroll states that if she writes a Christmas wish on the back of the parchment and returns the box to the step that night, her wish will come true. After finding a mysterious package a couple days later, she decides to continue using the box as it arrives, choosing to help classmates in need rather than herself. By following her heart and giving to others in worse shape than her family—both mentally and financially— and by opening her life to others, as in the case of her mother’s new boyfriend, Kallie begins to love Christmas, no longer blaming harmless events in her life on a curse.
The Christmas Box uses the themes of good nature, forgiveness, and loving thy neighbor throughout, not only from the story’s main characters, but from minor story plots, including a flashback to World War II when a Nazi soldier helped Otto as a young boy living on the street. While a lesson is to be learned from this image, in a world of constant bigotry and nationalism, one does not often expect somebody with the same beliefs as this soldier to do the same today. Also, unlike some of the films reviewed in this series, there is no bad language, which makes it a wonderful movie for children and families alike.
The Christmas Box is currently available on DVD online, as well as at your local library.
