The Man Who Invented Christmas

• Directed by Bharat Nalluri
• November 10, 2017 (Cork Film Festival) / November 22, 2017 (US & Canada) / December 1, 2017 (UK)

This is the story of how legendary author Charles Dickens came to write the classic novella A Christmas Carol.

As with any biographical film you should take what is presented here with a grain of salt. Perhaps multiple grains of salt the further back in time the film goes. Often artistic license is used with characters created or individuals eliminated from the story along with a whole host of other things “dramatic effect.” In other words what you get is not the unvarnished truth.

The Man Who Invented Christmas appears to be more a dramatization of Dickens’s creative process than anything else. The characters of A Christmas Carol quite literally come alive as his imagination takes on a tangible form. In doing so you see where he draws his inspiration from because either those who inspired a particular character play that character in his head or someone very much in their appearance does.

Christopher Plummer plays the very interactive imaginary Ebenezer Scrooge. Plummer plays Scrooge as just evil at first before moving him into just being a general asshole. By the end though he is the Ebenezer we are all familiar with. It was interesting to watch him and the other characters of the story act like a chorus in the author’s imagination.

Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) existed in a time when authors were as celebrated and as famous as actors are today. In essence they were the movie industry of their era and a good author, which Dickens was, could be a rockstar to the world. As the story opens Dickens is at a personal low. He is suffering financially after the failure of his three most recent books.

Stevens makes Dickens a charming dreamer who is also dealing with his issues brought on by his past and the unannounced arrival of his eccentric father John (Jonathan Pryce). Dickens has a strained relationship with his father who because of living outside of his means was sent to debtors’ prison with Charles being forced for a period to go into a workhouse. This has left him scarred.

We get the highs and lows of the creative process as well as a look at Dickens’s personal struggles. They also are a source for the story which he comes to write. The story which came to be how we think of Christmas today.

At the time Christmas was a minor holiday. The birth of Jesus was not what was most significant but rather the death and resurrection. However with Dickens writing about friends and family and generosity at that time it took on a much greater prominence than it otherwise would have.

The story moves between lighthearted and serious. There are humorous moments as well as serious pieces of drama. The characters in his head chastise him at points about how he treats those that are real. A Christmas Carol not only becomes his view on the world but a bit of an apology as well as a way to work through his own personal issues with those around him.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is heartwarming and funny and despite being a biographical film will actually put you in the Christmas spirit. As it should since this is about the individual whose idealized vision of the holiday gave us that which we look forward to every December 25^th.

This film is not about undoing a myth but about the myth that was made. It taps into A Christmas Carol’s spirit to tell its own story of redemption and hope and the holiday. Dickens comes to see through the creative process what is truly important and learns to move beyond the past.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is a great biographical film. While probably not that factual, it will put you in the Christmas feel. I strongly suggest this movie!