Christmas Child

This might have been a good movie, but it just did not feel complete. It didn't feel like all the loose ends were resolved. There seemed no answer to the question of the main character's father. What happened to him? Why did the main character, the reporter, not try to find out about him? After finding out about his birth mother he seemed to have no interest in finding out about his birth father. The movie did not indicate what happened to the birth father. What was the town sheriff so out to get him? There seemed no clear explanation for that other than he didn't want him snooping around. It just left too many unanswered questions.

A good friend bought me this film on DVD. While not being one I had heard of, watched it out of curiosity and turned out to be quite a surprise. It didn't particularly sound like much but with a story by prolific writer Max Lucado thought it might have something to offer. Then there was the Director William Ewing, a big production directorial honcho at Sony Pictures with a string of massive hits under his name. Ewing, gave up the fame and fortune to start his own not-for-profit production company! An admirable move indeed.

As soon as this film began the production values were obvious, cinematography by Spanish born Fernando Arguellies offering highly stylised visuals, fetchingly compiled music score and strong performances from a varied professional cast - telling the story of an adopted big city journalist searching for a connection to his past history. His search begins with only a mysterious photograph left to him by his recently departed adoptive father.

The adapted screenplay may have omitted some details from the original story or there may have been post production cuts (?) as there are a couple of odd situations (and characters) that transpire during his search - leaving some things a little up in the air. But the story was intriguing enough to keep the viewer interested, and apart from the odd bits it was highly entertaining (maybe it needs a second viewing to sort out some fine details, occasionally stories can be like that?). If wanting a rest from the endless comic book superheroes, car chases, and explosions, this thoughtful film is a refreshing contender.

I had to do some math while watching this one to get the births and deaths and gifts of mangers right, but it was worth it.

I agree with some of the reviewers that the missing father issue was odd. And why the sheriff was so evil was not clearly explained (I wanted the sheriff arrested and locked up, to be honest, his nasty tone seemed out of place in the movie).

The lead is always a personable actor, but he looked too similar to the pastor, so distractingly the viewer might think they were related.

It was refreshing not to have a sappy, brain-dead, infantile Christmas movie, like has become the norm in 2020.

"Christmas Child" doesn't fit in the usual uplifting and romantic type of stories that are so popular over the Christmas holidays. But this film is quite good. It does have a sub-theme that looks at the origin and real meaning of Christmas. And that is seen through a main plot of finding family and discovery of one's roots. While it may not appeal to some people, I think this film will be very meaningful to those who have been adopted, or who have adopted children themselves or had to give up a child for adoption. That would be several million in North America alone, and as many in Europe and perhaps other areas. Most people grow up with their biological mom, or dad, or both. So, they don't ask where they came from or who their parents were. But, for those of us who have been adopted, it's quite different. It's a natural thing to wonder about who a mom or dad or parents were and to want to find out something about them.

This film treats this subject in a very good way. I rate it highly for that reason. And it would rate still higher but for one main character who is not essential to the story, and for some aspects of the script and film that are distractions, or that don't fit well or make much sense.

I won't give the story away, but will note these few points and shortcomings. William Moses gives a mostly superb portrayal of Jack Davenport. But, in the opening scenes, it's not quite clear why his relationship seems so cold with his wife, Meg, played by Megan Follows. One can't help thinking that love has gone out of their lives - that he no longer loves Meg. Jack has been grieving his adopted father's death nine months earlier, Now he is curious about his blood parents when he finds a photo and keepsake items in his dad's safety deposit box. But why should this make him is so cool toward his wife? Not once when they talk on the phone and he calls her from Texas, does he say that he loves her. Was an intentional aspect of the film - to have viewers think there was no longer love there and their marriage was falling apart? It's a further distraction that could easily have been eliminated just by Jack telling Meg at the end of one or two phone calls, that he loves her. That would further drive home the notion that something else is bothering Jack deeply.

Finally, I could see no purposes whatsoever in the character of the sheriff, Jimmy-James, played by Muse Watson. If anything, his inclusion and Jack's interplay with him act like red herrings to the story. They have nothing to do with the plot. Instead, this gives a negative drift to the film. Was it intended to portray a southern red-neck sheriff who resents a city-sicker coming to town? Especially one from up North? Because that's sure what it looks like. Now, the sheriff wasn't crass or crude or bombastic in anyway. He was rather calm and cool. But he had nothing better to do in the town than watch, pursue and nitpick with a pleasant journalist from out of town? There is one hint that Jimmy-James's harassing streak comes from jealousy. When Jack first goes into Kirby's Café to look over the pictures taken by the late Rev. Krause, and the waitress, Cindy, pays more attention to him than to Jimmy-James, the sheriff flashes an ornery look on his face.

But, again, all the incidents with the sheriff and Jack after that don't fit the story overall, and they detract more than they help the story. If anything, they paint Jack as something of a dummy. One doesn't challenge a law officer who's doing his job, however picayunish it may seem. And, the sheriff's hounding Jack makes him to look like a red-neck with nothing better to do. Everything of substance about this story could be told and more meaningfully, with the sheriff's character eliminated entirely - or changed to eliminate the disputes.

The movie was filmed in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, as the fictional town of Clearwater, Texas. The street scenes clearly show a small town of the range of 10,000 or so population. Such towns usually have a few churches, not just one community church. There is a line by Jack late in the film that refers to other churches in the town. That makes it a little odd that all the people that Jack meets in this story would be members of or attend this one church. And, for the annual Christmas Eve program at the nearly life-sized hand carved nativity scene, the gathering doesn't seem very large if the nativity scene is the pride of the community. One other small goof in the script is when Jack is invited to the celebration at Stafford's barn. He doesn't ask for directions, and the person doesn't tell him how to find it

This movie is based on a short story by Max Lucado, "The Christmas Cross." He revised it in 2003 and changed the title to "The Christmas Child: A Story of Coming Home." The film has a very good ending that fits perfectly with the themes of family and Christmas. Here are a couple of lines from the film

Dan, the helper in the church, "Christmas Eve. Special service. You plannin' on comin?" Jack Davenport, "I'll think about it." Dan, "It's a good thing God didn't think about it. He did it. He came. Now, that's somethin' to think about."

Judge, "I figure he worked 10 years carving this nativity scene."

Reporter Jack Davenport was adopted as a baby and the adoption was sealed. He is now in his forties and his only living adoptive parent, his father, passed away several months ago. It is Christmas and Jack is finally getting around to going through his father's things. There he finds a clue to his birth in Clearwater, Texas so he uses a story in Dallas as an excuse to go to Clearwater to look for his birth parents.

This movie came out in 2004 and I have seen it several times since. I can't say that about very many movies, Christmas or otherwise. This movie is very different from the dozens of predictable romance "Christmas" movies that are out there. It presents an interesting story set at Christmas with positive messages and a positive outcome. I can highly recommend it.