It is that time of the year!

Holdovers (2023)
Director: Alexander Payne

This one comes close to being a feel-good Christmas spirit movie in the vein of 'It's a Wonderful Life' (1946), 'Miracle at 34th Street' (1947), and 'Diehard!' (1988). Maybe not 'Diehard' for its destruction and violence that happens around X'Mas.

When everything looks hopeless, and there is no reason to be merry, one can be a Scrooge, making life a living hell for people or, alternatively, try to at least a little bit better for others. After all, that is how life has been for aeons. Life, with its ups and downs throughout our civilisation, only makes one's life more colourful. Despite all the maladies and tragedy, we still come out unscathed, dusting the dirt off our backs and moving forward to face another challenge. That that does not kill us makes us stronger.

The sombre settings around Christmas make the soul go pensive. Tradition has made one long for lost relatives and reminisce about a carefree childhood. The colours of Yuletide bring out the best of human qualities and only go to square one after one usher in the new year. Is it any surprise that the days following the Christmas-New Year are hailed as the busiest days for divorce lawyers. Maybe the long soul-searching triggered them to seek out new partners.

The film revolves around three characters in an elite boarding school. An uninspiring teacher who is not everyone's idea of a favourite teacher, Mr Hunham, is forced by the headmaster to care for students who cannot return home for Christmas. A parent arrived on a helicopter to take all students off for skiing, except for Tully, whose money had gone off on a honeymoon trip with her new husband. Tully is actually quite disturbed that his biological father is institutionalised for a severe psychiatric illness. Staying back also is the grieving canteen manager, Mary Lamb, who had recently lost her 19-year-old son in the Vietnam War. This movie was set in 1971.

Together, through the holiday period, the three of them found friendship, which did not magically change their past sadness, but it did help them mend their broken hearts and strengthen them to endure the rest of the days ahead. 4/5

(P.S. 'Holdovers' are people surviving a previous administration or such.)

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A time to reflect?

The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Director: Henry Koster

Even though 'It's A Wonderful World' (1946) may be hailed as the best Christmas movie of all time, the message behind 'The Bishop's Wife' is the same. Christmas is a time of giving (to the needy) and caring, and it is a time for peace on Earth. 'The Bishop's Wife' is nowhere listed as even the top thirty of X'mas films.

Christmas is in the air, but there is no peace in the life of Bishop Henry Brougham. The stress of getting funds to build a new cathedral is proving too much. He neglects his parish, his wife and daughter. The Bishop asks for God's guidance, and God sends him an angel to sort things out. In the neighbourhood, there is also a learned professor who has been procrastinating on his book writing. A wealthy widow is also trying to figure out how to utilise her husband's cash, give to charity, or contribute towards the cathedral. A nondescript angel, Dudley, comes in the form of a debonaire Cary Grant.

It is funny that the leaders of the same religion that calls for peace on Earth are the very same ones that call for war. The same people who call for equality are the very people who create trade imbalances. Somehow, when God supposedly created Man as equal in his own spitting image, He meant to make some more important than others. Some were designed to be slaves and to be whipped to submission. Others deserved to be colonised and bullied for their possessions.

They justify all these by building places of worship to glorify their own religion and erecting schools that denigrate other peoples' belief systems. A group of preachers are also hellbent on evangelising and converting as many lost souls as possible as they preserve prosperity in their own Motherland. The rest of the world can burn; they would find perfect bliss in fiddling!

Hey, it's Christmas. The message of peace on Earth, the glory of God and the joy of giving are the season's flavour. Come the new year, it is business as usual.

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A Christmas thriller

The Apology (2022)
Director: Allison Locke

Increasingly I realise that life is more complex. A crime is not always pre-meditated. Sometimes things happen at the moment out of uncontrolled emotions. Sometimes it is just a freak accident, a twist of fate. No one is going to believe the confession of an aggrieved man. What meets him instead is the full might of the law. The slow grind of the law, oiled by people with a vested interest, will throw the whole weight of the book at him to ensure maximum incarceration, remorse or not.

The humiliation and the inconveniences that come with getting caught with a crime, or even confessing to one, is way too much to handle for the perpetrator and all those intimately linked to him. Hence, it is necessary to get scot-free from it all costs.

Even when the case appears in the courts finally, there is no guarantee that Lady Justice is blind to suggestions and appeasement. Justice is not meted, but rather there is more emphasis on technicality and chains of events.  

What is the alternative to all these? A world where might determines right may not be everybody's idea of meting justice. Street justice leads to pandemonium.

This psychological thriller tells of a grief counsellor, Darlene, who lost her daughter some 20 years previously. Christmas is in the air. Her estranged brother-in-law, her sister's ex-husband and her old flame, Jack, enter unexpectedly. He tries to reignite their romance and his relationship with his ex-wife. As the evening progresses, Darlene realises that he is up to something no good. It turns out to be horrendous as he confesses to killing Darlene's 16-year-old daughter 19 years ago. It becomes a cat-and-mouse situation as Darlene and Jack try to outsmart each other the bring the other down. Good suspense.

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Ho, ho, ho... all the way to the bank!

We all know how much Christmas is commercialised in the modern world. Not to forget how the tunic of beard man Yuletide coincidentally shares the same colour with the most favourite drink, Coca Cola.

There is this town in Finland, in Laplands over the Arctic Circle, named Rovaniemi. Besides being the spot to view the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), it is also said the official hometown of Santa Claus. After being flattened out in World War 2, the town promoted itself as a Christmas destination after Eleanor Roosevelt, American First Lady, popularised it. Rovaniemi welcomes about half a million visitors annually.

If the rest of the world is contented with one stereotypical look of Santa, Slovenians can be incredibly proud of their three Santas. Each of their Santa reminds them of a different time in their country's history.

Santa, Miklavž and Mraz

First, there is the story of Saint Nicholas (or Sveti Miklavž in Slovene), a third-century bishop who is reputed to have saved a girl from prostitution by delivering a bag of coin in the dark of the night. Slovenians commemorate this day on the 6th of December by giving presents to children. Miklavž was a relic of the Hapsburg Empire when Roman Catholicism was the religion of the land. 

After the Austria-Hungario Empire crumbled after the First World War, the Slovene people became part of the authoritarian rule of Tito of Yugoslavia. Catholicism and religious holidays were banned under the communist regime. So was Saint Nicholas. But the thought of stopping giving presents to children was too much. Hence, Tito continued this tradition modelled after a Russian communist Santa named Ded Moroz. In Slovenia, he was called Dedek Mraz. 

White Christmas in Slovenia

When Slovenia became an independent nation in 1991, it was drawn to the western economic model. Naturally, Santa and consumerism ruled the roost. The more, the merrier the Slovenes thought. Now, all three Santas go on a rotation to have a month-long celebration in the month of December.

Each Santa reminds Slovenians of their ancient past - under the Empire, a Russia-controlled ruler and as an independent nation. 

It is intriguing how a celebration becomes an ideological or an economic model statement. The powers in control will tell their subjects what should be celebrated and how it should be celebrated. The rest, like lambs, will just follow the herd under the lead of the shepherd, whose sole intention in life is to fatten his flock and prepare them for the slaughterhouse!

(P.S. Meanwhile, in confused Malaysia, in the midst of trying to find her right footing in the ever-changing 21st century, after 50 years of racial and religious indoctrination, has left some of its citizens in a quandary. To wish or not to wish is the question! On the one hand, they are told the Creator created different tribes with various languages so as for people to know each other. Their idol, Zakir Naik, the foreign ultra-conservative evangelist with a bounty on his head, whom they hold in esteem, says it is haram to wish each other 'Merry Christmas'. By wishing so, he insists, that one is accepting that Jesus (or Isa in the Quran) is the Son of God. That, the fact that God (a.k.a. Allah) can have a wife and father a child is sacrilegious.)

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Get real!

Bad Santa (2003)

Mention Christmas movies, everyone will think of the 1939 'It's a Wonderful Life' or perhaps 'Home Alone' or even Nakatomi Plaza, John McClane and the' Die Hard' franchise. I bet nobody would want to remember 'Bad Santa'. Most, if not all, Christmas movies try to spread the message of love and the joy of giving in general. In their own way, they try to convey that good prevails over evil, and the Grace of God will help overcome any adversities. Even the antithesis of Christmas - Charles Dickens' Uncle Scrooge in 'Christmas Carol' came around to finally see the spirit of the Yuletide. No, not in Billy Bob Thornton's depiction of Santa Claus.
Come to think of it, nobody likes to dresses in a fat man's suit to listen to children demands (yes, not request) for Christmas presents. These days, children are too smart to believe that there is an old saint up there in the North Pole who works all through the year with his elves making gifts for them as per request. And he has a list of who had been naughty or nice. To top it all, he can deliver all his presents in a single night on a one-man open sleigh squeezing through a chimney for a cookie and milk. DHL would be out of a job.

I remember an episode on 'Family Guy' (S9E3 -The Road to the North Pole) where Stewie and Brian go to the North Pole to discover an ailing Santa Claus because of exhaustion, wilting to the pressures of a highly materialistic world and a 'sweatshop' like working conditions of the elves in keeping with the demands of an exploding population number. It is not a gratifying to be a provider as they soon discover when they took over the ailing Santa's job. People are suspicious of anything free, and the idea of their child sitting on a hirsute old man with a lousy dressing sense does not excite any average parents. Whatsmore, in the pandemic times, coming in contact with someone who has been wandering around.

Anyway, the character of 'Bad Santa' is about an alcoholic who is generally a sourpuss who grudgingly dresses up as Santa annually to the beck and call of his 'partner in crime', his old midget friend who dresses up as an elf. They work in malls during the Christmas season, but their real MO is to rob the mall come Christmas eve. That particular, their path crosses with that of a lonely unattended boy who lives with an old demented granny. If you think Santa Claus will bring the joy of the festivities to everyone, look elsewhere. Here, Santa used the young boy's naivety to squat in his mansion and gave unlimited access to his out-at-work father's access to booze and other luxury accessories. At the same time, he and his elf friend with his Asian girlfriend architect their next heist. This dark comedy is an excellent diversion to the age-old lovey-dovey warmth atmosphere in a White Christmas that is often depicted in most Xmas films. It is set in the hot desert city of Phoenix, Arizona, by the way.

Dan Cowley @riflerangeboyII just sent me a song in the spirit of the occasion. Ariana Grande's 2014 hit song asks Santa to tell her whether her new beau is for real or he will be one of her love interests who would disappear into the dark of the night. Maybe, it is just me, but I think this song would only excite a paedophile. The backup singers/dancers, even Grande herself, are way too young to be having many previous romantic trysts! The dancers look mere tweens for Christ sake.

Anyway, in the spirit of eternal hopefulness of better times ahead, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021.

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In the spirit of colour red and Christmas

What colour reminds you of Christmas? Some smart alec would attribute the colours green, brown, silver and gold combinations found on a Christmas tree as quintessentially the spirit of Yuletide. But what is the season without the red hue of the tunic of Saint Nicholas, you say.

There is a long-standing conspiracy theory that it is no mere coincidence that Santa’s ‘Father Christmas’ costume has the same hue as that of Cola-Cola advertisements. 

Coca-Cola did start using Santa in advertising in 1933. Santa had been portrayed almost exclusively in red from the early 19th century, and most of his modern image was put together by the famous American caricaturist, Thomas Nast, in the 1870s.
Thomas Nest is well known to have drawn the Elephant for the Republican Party. He popularised the Democratic donkey, Uncle Sam and Columbia, the female personification of American values. This man, dubbed as the American father of cartoons, is honoured for portraying the modern Santa Claus with a red tunic. 

A Thomas Nast Santa from 1881,
wearing the modern Santa suit

Before that, Santa was depicted in tan. Nest also drew in green. It was Haddon Sundblom, working as an advertiser for Coca Cola Company in 1931 who immortalised Santa's costume to remain forever red. How convenient, Coca Cola's corporate colour also became red; reminding potential to stock their homes with the red beverage which corresponds to the spirit of the Season of Christmas. This must have been the time Edward Bernays, the nephew to Sigmund Freud, who incorporated psychology into the retail business. 

The colour red also worked just fine to highlight the spiritual significance of X' mas. Red denotes blood, and for the celebration of a figure who would have to die to wash the sins of mankind, it fits pretty well. 

Think celebration, think red, think Coca Cola. 

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A look into the subaltern...

Tangerine 2015

It is Christmas Eve. What do you expect most people to do? Do last-minute shopping, wrap their presents or be on their way to their loved one's place or sit down cosily awaiting Santa Claus to slide down the chimney to sip their milk and chocolate cookie?

Unfortunately, not everybody's life is cut out so fine. Many in the essential services have to slog through the festivities. For some, it is just another day, another big expenditure.

This film deals with a small section of the population who are kind of cast out from the public eye. They are seen but preferred not to be associated with.

The spirit of Yuletide is in the air in the streets of the bad side of Los Angeles. For transexuals, Sin-dee Rella and Alexandra, it is just a day in their dog-eat-dog life. They just live off the street, earning enough to scrape by offering sexual favours. Sin-Dee had just been released after a 28-day stint in jail for soliciting. She is all riled out to discover that her pimp boyfriend has been cheating on her with a cis-female. In midst of all this are an Armenian immigrant cab driver, a married man with a daughter, and his penchant for transgender prostitutes.

The whole movie, a low-budget endeavour, was shot entirely on iPhone5 using actual transexuals in their natural habitat and showcasing the not so glamorous part of Hollywood. It is a loud movie with a lot of shouting and strong street language. Sin-dee goes in search of her boyfriend after finding out about his new girlfriend. The Armenian cab driver has to deal with his 'infidelity' after his liaison with transexual sex workers is put up in the open by his nosy mother-in-law.

Not everything is hunky-dory in the land of American dreams and Tinseltown.

(P.S. Why 'Tangerine' as the title of the movie I wondered? Well, probably because tangerine is not quite an orange but wants to be one; just like the trans individuals are not females but want to very much be one! Or maybe it is the background colour of the film when it is shot an iPhone5! Mmmm...)

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Rock on!

Whilst everybody is arguing about the political correctness of spreading the spirit of the festivities and whether Winterval should replace Christmas, and on the other spectrum, whether X’mas is a religious celebration at all, people forget the message behind any celebration. It does not matter if it is a pagan festival. The spirit of any get-together is the fellowship, the fun, the laughter and the strengthening of bonds of camaraderie, of family and the temporary amnesia of the accumulating thoughts of uncertainties of the future. 

As the arms of our family tentacles spread wide to explore greener pastures and in the advancement of careers, the number of remaining members slowly dwindles. If previously, greetings were expressed with bear hugs, exchange of presents and boisterous meetings packed with roars of laughter and trays of food, now we have to content ourselves with digital cards, heart signs and virtual kiss emojis. Messages after messages impressing and outdoing each others’ longing of the other regularly clog the family Whatsapp groups.

These are the gruelling needs of the time and an existential need to propel the family DNA up a notch from where the previous generation left it. If one were too sentimental and fail to be a realist but stay forever romanticising the so-perceived glorious past, he would be stuck in a dream only to awaken to realise that the next revolutionary bus had left us by. 

So forward we shall march with the fond memories of the yesteryears to spur us and the dream of a better future to engine us. The mistakes of yesterday will be the lessons to build a better tomorrow as we sail through the vast Ocean of Life on our minuscule and wayward vessels. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

In the spirit of the Yuletide. 2009, Kajang.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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Vintage Christmas Moments

Christmas is said to be a time of love, cheer and human compassion.
These photos may be decades-old, but the stories they tell are not much different than the stories of today.

British and German troops sharing the unofficial ceasefire during WWI in No Man's Land (1914)



The first Norwegian Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, donated to London by the city of Oslo as thanks for England's help during WWII (18 Dec. 1947)



Using old WWII flamethrowers to clear up snow (December, 1947)



A poor woman taking a donated Christmas dinner from the Salvation Army (1910)



A young girl leaving a message for Santa Claus in the Brecknock School for Blind Children (1925)



Rehearsals for the first ever New Year's Eve Time ball drop (1907)



A young German couple welcoming the new year on top of the Berlin Wall with a kiss (1989)

Santa riding an elephant (1925)



John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Mary Hopkins at a Christmas party (1968)

Bostonians out for Christmas shopping (1930)



Unemployed New Yorkers celebrating Christmas during the Great Depression (1938)



Republicans and democrats enjoying a friendly snowball fight (December 14, 1923)



Father Frost on a rocket during the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (1959)



Brothers reunite after being separated by the Berlin Wall for 2 years. In 1963, residents of West Berlin were allowed a one-day pass into East Berlin to visit relatives.



King George V giving the first Christmas Day address to the people of Britain over the radio (1932)



Queen Elizabeth giving the first televised address (1957)



President Reagan dressed as Santa, hearing his wife, Nancy's requests for Christmas (1983)



President Roosevelt addressing the audience during the White House Christmas Tree Lighting (1941)



Christmas dinner at an interim camp for Americans of German, Japanese and Italian descent during WWII (1943)



A British pilot handing out gifts to children in the Netherlands during its liberation. The Germans stopped providing the locals with food and fuel, causing a famine (1944)



American soldiers decorate a Christmas Tree during the Vietnam War (1967)



English schoolboys going home for Christmas (1926)



A French soldier dressed as Santa delivering his comrades parcels from home (1939)



The first Capitol Christmas Tree (1913)



A young child hugging his father's leg as he holds his wife after returning from the war (1944)



Children in London, celebrating Christmas in a bomb shelter (1940)

A couple from West Berlin, waving to their relatives on the other side of the Berlin Wall (1961)

Injured soldier feeding his buddy Christmas dinner in a Belgian hospital (1944)



Jewish residents of the Westerbrok concentration camp lighting Hannukah candles in hopes of a better time (1942)

The Lincoln Heights "drunk tank", where Police used to keep inebriated people(1952)

Traditionally, people would line up to visit the open day at the White House. The president of the U.S.A. would personally shake the hands of anyone who arrived (1927)