THE CHRISTMAS CARD

REVIEWED BY RISSI C.

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

Warm, fuzzy Christmas movies are some of my favorites to sit down with my family and watch. Which is the main reason why every year at this time I will search Amazon.com for all the latest television films that I read about the previous year, hoping the title I type in will be on DVD this year. That was the case with The Christmas Card, a Hallmark channel movie; this endearing little film has now skyrocketed to the top of my “classics" collection.

Living in a small woodland town of Nevada City, Faith Spellman (Alice Evens) has been brought up with strong moral values; a loving home, strong relationships with family and a loving example for a marriage, given to her by her parents, Luke and Rosie. Every year at Christmastime, her church sends Christmas greetings to the troops overseas; this year Faith’s inspiring card reaches Sergeant Cody Collum (John Newton). Sergeant Collum is without any family and as a result is thinking of re-enlisting instead of taking his Christmas break. His commanding officer however has different ideas and sends Cody to deliver a friend’s tags to the man’s loving fiancée. 

Having to travel to Nevada City in order to carry out the request, Cody meets the Spellman family and finds everything about the town and people warm and welcoming. After Luke Spellman (Edward Asner) invites the stranger to stay, Cody finds himself drawn to this generous family and can’t help but fall in love with Faith, despite her already having a serious relationship.

This Hallmark Channel movie manages to be cute, moving and yet has an air of truth to it that has been brought together nicely. Having lost his family early on in his life, Cody has had to fend for himself and joins the Army right out of high school, thinking it would somehow be enough. Introverted and shy is how Cody is portrayed and John Newton did an excellent job of bringing that to life. An unexpected pleasure was to see was Alice Evens as Faith, who in real life is the girlfriend of my favorite actor, Ioan Gruffudd. Being British I think was one of Evens' downfalls for this role. It seemed as if she couldn’t quite pull off a really believable American accent; when she’d talk it was almost as if she was trying really hard to sound American. Asner and Newton were probably the strongest performances, but Alice Evens and Lois Nettlton (Rosie Spellman) were fantastic, rounding out the leading cast. 

There were so many themes that I loved in this film. Family was portrayed as a wonderful gift and Faith still adored the parents who raised her, while faith in God is also brought in. Very unobtrusive and unassuming, but nonetheless there was the illusion that the Spellman’s believed in God; praying, attending church and referencing God’s mercy on occasion. What faith they believed in is unclear, it is a small country church they attend. Despite the fact that Edward Asner has been very vocal about his politics, I loved his and Cody’s scenes together; they were meaningful and Cody respected Luke for the advice he gave. The scenes in which Luke and Faiths Uncle Richard attempt to match-make are priceless and add the comic appeal. The meeting between Faith and Cody is adorable, while it’s not brilliant it is simply “real” and a nice touch was bringing that first meeting into the ending.

The scenery is really lovely in this film, too. Generally I don’t notice scenery while watching movies, but for some reason I noticed this, possibly because the Spellman’s operated a mill and therefore loved the outdoors. The woodsy town where they live has a quaint feel and while walking through a wintry path surrounded by pine trees, I found myself noticing the beauty of it all. Cody’s hurting because of his friends’ recent death, when he meets Faith he finds something inside of himself that he didn’t realize was there, a yearning for family. Despite falling in love with Faith, Cody never oversteps his bounds due to Faith dating her longtime boyfriend who has a problem with commitment, but is ever respectful even admitting he has fallen in love with Faith. Content is almost non-existent; a couple starts “making out” on the couch but get interrupted. A bomb kills a man, we see it go off and see the man lying there (very little blood). 

Concluding thoughts really come down to this; I loved this movie. It has heart, comedy and underlying themes that are all but missing in most films today; respect, a strong sense of family and love. As a supporter of our troops, it was wonderful to see a movie that had that aspect brought in, and positively depicted.  These characters are very real to me and despite the fact that all things must end, I wanted this story to go on for a lot longer then it did. This Christmas tale will be one of my favorites for years to come, the sweet tale that unfolds is a joy to watch and the slightly bittersweet conclusion leaves you happy, but still wanting so much more.