This Finnish-language period fantasy (dubbed in English) tells the story of the altruistic giver St. Nicholas, the man who became Santa Claus in myth and legend – and whose life, shown here childhood on, radiates with messages of selflessness and friendship.
Many years ago, in Lapland, a boy named Nikolas is orphaned when his family are killed in an accident. The heads of the families in the village meet to decide his future and, as life in the arctic is difficult, it is decided that as no one family could care for him permanently, they would raise him communally, with each family taking him for one year and then moving him on to the next. Grateful, Nikolas begins whittling toys out of wood as a gift which, each Christmas, he leaves for the family that cared for him. It becomes a tradition from then, with Nikolas never forgets the children of those families that received him each year. When a blight hits the village, and none of the families can afford to take him in for the next year, he is taken in by grumpy hermit Iisakki as his carpenter’s apprentice. Iisakki works him hard but Nikolas is clever and quick to learn, and Iisakki gradually grows to love Nikolas as his own son. Nikolas begins to live more and more for the spirit of Christmas with each passing year and it becomes his life and as he grows old he becomes the figure known as Santa Claus.
Dove family approved.
Starring Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Otto Gustavsson and Jonas Rinne.
Note: It is unclear what era this is set in, the press kit says “hundreds of years ago” so perhaps in the 1600s or 1700s but maybe earlier; if anyone knows please drop a line – till then, this is listed as Tudor / Stuart era. Filmed in Levi and Utsjoki, Laplan.