At Christmas, tables are set with copious amounts of turkey and generous amounts of cranberry sauce. Imagine trees abundant with ornaments and fairy lights and numerous gifts clustered around, resembling Victorian urchins cozying up to a blazing brazier.
Of the movie industry pushing you to try your luck with Keira Knightley. Put another way, this is a period of extreme materialism. Thus, The Heist Before Christmas from Sky Max is a bit of a tonic—a Christmas film for the underserved market during underserved holidays.
Christmas films frequently feature the materially wealthy in need of spiritual sustenance, whether it’s the McCallister from Home Alone, the Scrooges from, you know, all those Christmas Carol adaptations, or even George Bailey, the depressed banker from It’s a Wonderful Life.
They are told that family, fraternity, and friendship are the true meaning of Christmas, rather than exchanging gifts or indulging in food. The Heist Before Christmas represents a valuable and fascinating departure in this case. “You don’t own a phone?”
Review
The Heist Before Christmas, a story of rival Saint Nicks and a test of faith in magic, is almost as great a triumph this year. Technically, it stars James Nesbitt as the villainous fake Santa and Timothy Spall as Santa—or is he really?—both of whom are huge names. However, two other lesser-known actors steal every scene and, I believe, every heart, which is appropriate given the season.
First, there’s Bamber Todd as 12-year-old Mikey, who’s grown too quickly and too impoverished to feel much Christmas love. Todd is amazing in his first television role. He has great comedic timing and a way of capturing all of Mikey’s sadness as he tries to hold onto the season’s spirit for his younger brother Sean (Joshua McLees, who plays a part that could easily threaten it).
The second is Laura Donnelly, who plays Patricia, his mother. She captures both her desperation at not being able to pull off a respectable Christmas fist and her overwhelming love for her boys.
Almost all Christmas stories feature a struggling character or family that triumphs over adversity, but these days, poverty is a difficult barrier to overcome. It is a reality that is too common to be handled carelessly, and author Ronan Blaney does an amazing job of navigating it.
He realistically portrays the family’s poverty and the threats to their survival—for example, Mikey’s petty theft to keep the family’s finances afloat, forcing the police to notify social services—and the background humiliations they endure, particularly Patricia, whose boss consistently withholds money from her and won’t pay her for overtime she has worked until the following week when she is in dire need of it.
Furthermore, he demonstrates that their predicament is the result of systemic failure as opposed to personal failings. Patricia tells the police, “I have to work,” as they pick up Mikey without adult supervision. “What more am I meant to do?”
Sean is overcome with wonder and hope when the brothers find Santa (Spall) lying hurt in the snow-covered woods, having fallen out of his sleigh. But Mikey believes Santa is most likely just a normal guy with a concussion who is hallucinating.
Bad Santa’s presence elsewhere, along with the bag of £80,000 in cash he is carrying from his robbery of the local bank, fills him with more wonder and hope.
When their paths eventually meet in the woods, Mikey gives Bad Santa a way out in return for a portion of the money. Sadly, Bad Santa foils him and takes Sean hostage. Soon after, Mikey and Good Santa set out to save the young child.
Everything is well after a quad bike chase, a strategic kick in the goolies, and other antics. Lessons about the true meaning of Christmas have been learned, faith, hope, and charity have all been given their due, and brotherly love has triumphed over the pursuit of money.
Regretfully, the conclusion is a little disorganized, with enough unresolved issues and implausible happy endings to imply that it required an additional five minutes of running time or an additional draft of the third act. But you will have laughed, you will have wept, and you may have even seen the start of a long and prosperous career for young Bamber Todd.
