Today even the Sami grown-ups have forgotten the old tales, but not little Pietari (Onni Tommila). The sober and studious kid (he's the anti-Ralphie) pores over old tomes crammed with gruesome lore and lurid woodprint illustrations.
Legend says the mountain was made by ancient peoples to bury something nasty.
Since the local men are hairy, beery, gun-toting oafs (apparently every culture has its rednecks), defending humanity from the evil Santa and his vile minions (his "elves" are naked, bearded old men) falls to Pietari, who shows a coolness under fire worthy of Macaulay Culkin in the "Home Alone" movies.
Santa Claus is coming to town in the delightfully funny “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale,” and he’s not in a jolly mood.
Yes, Virginia, this Santa doesn’t mess around. But writer-director Jalmari Helandar sure does in trying to right the wrongs perpetrated by the Coca-Cola Co. when its ad department turned the scrawny, goat-horned child abuser into a jolly fat elf hoisting a refreshing bottle of Coke.
That leaves it up to the town’s nearly bankrupt butcher and his adorable young son (real-life father and son Onni and Jorma Tommila) to save the day by capturing Santa and selling him to a giant conglomerate.
It’s as funny and cynical as it sounds, as Helandar creates what’s sure to become a worldwide Christmas classic, brimming with cute, albeit dead, reindeer, and enough action and humor to rival “Iron Man.”
At its heart, though, “Rare Exports” is a “village picture” in the vain of “Waking Ned Devine,” “Local Hero” and dozens of others. The kid’s a keeper.
Only little Peitari (Onni Tommilla) suspects the answer: The archaeologists have dug up the frozen Santa Claus.
Writer-director Jalmari Helander sets an appropriately dark mood for this tale set in the permanent night above the Arctic Circle, turning a holiday legend into a grim fairy tale.
