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A Christmas Carol (2019)
A Christmas Carol (2019)
Dickens' England of 1843 was generally more aware of and in tune with Christian text, so the celebratory end of his novella, A Christmas Carol would not have been -- is not -- surprising. Redemption and forgiveness were to be aspired to:
"[...] There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent."
The point being -- inclusive or exclusive of religion -- redemption is joyous. In this fundamental, the BBC's revisiting of the well-known fable completely misses the point.
Writer Steven Knight doesn't believe in repentance or forgiveness it seems, or in making amends. What's done is done and must remain wreckage. Progress can be made, and character positively adjusted, but Knight's reality is a hard one: burn the past (as the Spirit of Christmas Past does, on his bonfire) and move on if you can. Then again, the deliberate and malicious wickedness in this Scrooge is far harder to forgive than the more usual fear-induced cynicism, even moreso in the absence of any apparent understanding of the positivity of reclamation. Scrooge doesn't appear to be a character more sympathetic to the audience, or a great deal more empathetic with his fellow beings, by the close of this miserable tale than he was at its start.
Twisted by life's (truly brutal) experience, *this* Scrooge is not only a cynic but a sadist, cruelly testing human response in distressing circumstances like a taller, less green Mekon (showing my age, there). Ironically, when Scrooge *is* reasonable -- expecting a fair day's work from his employee (finishing at a seemingly more-than-reasonable 4pm) -- his disgruntled subordinate is full of resentful insolence. Given the passive aggression Cratchit is prepared to risk with his employer, it's a surprise he didn't have the nerve to ask him for the £30 necessary for Tim's treatment. He's apparently a truculent blowhard.
Rather than address the difficulties his philosophy and conduct have put into other people's lives, Scrooge instead tries to prevent a completely accidental tragedy not of his making. Laudable and virtuous, but surely peripheral to the monstrosities for which he's actually responsible. He's also a bit thick if he thinks such a small bag of ash will make the whole surface of that frozen pond unskateable.
Poorly thought-out from start to finish, this is a miserable, muddled production. As is common in contemporary British TV drama, there are no positive adult male characters (though youngster Tiny Tim is both sympathetic and charming). Strength and virtue reside solely in the female character embodied by Mary Cratchit. We are invited to believe the spirits act on her direction but, if she possessed such gifts, she would have saved herself and everyone else a great deal of misery by acting more directly and somewhat earlier.
Speaking of Mrs C, her humiliation at the hands of Scrooge was a very badly misjudged modern inclusion which must separate the misanthrope from redemption in the eyes of any audience but, presumably, it is the trauma of this atrocity that enables her mystical instigation of the spirits. Also misjudged is the use of profanity. Not being an expert, I have no idea of the pattern of use of strong language in the Victorian age but, programmed by its non-inclusion in literature from the time, the resulting impression makes its presence jarring here. When juxtaposed with the mild references to "humbug" the stronger language appears bizarre and silly. Nor does its inclusion add anything dramatically that wouldn't be suggested by milder expletives or none at all.
Like Dickensian (BBC 2016), this is a fair idea badly realised. And like much of the BBC's dramatic output, A Christmas Carol superimposes 21st Century sensibilities onto period circumstances. It's uncertainty of tone is disorientating: the awful brutality of Scrooge's teacher is introduced by the pantomime figure of Ali Baba, and humorous vulgarity (as when urine seeps into Marley's grave, for example) sits less comfortably when considered alongside the pruriently depicted sexual humiliation of Mrs Cratchit.
Locations, sets and photography are all admirable and, visually, A Christmas Carol is a beautiful thing. Vinette Robinson and Lenny Rush run away with the acting honours, while Stephen Graham strives manfully with his portrayal of Marley, who for some reason I kept expecting to turn into Blackadder's Baldrick. Everyone else, quite understandably, seems at odds trying to convey either consistency or change in their characters through the circumstances of the narrative.
For anyone familiar with the story this is a very strange take. For anyone unfamiliar with the story, and therefore unfamiliar with some of the references used, I think it would be almost surreal. An interesting but badly - badly - flawed effort.
The Adventures of Don Quick (1970)
The Adventures of Don Quick
Broadcast by ITV at 9pm on Friday nights, 'The Adventures Of Don Quick' was a lightly satirical comedy that often addressed the changing social values of the increasingly more liberal 1960s and 1970s. It had a science fiction setting but obviously tipped its hat to Cervantes.
'Don Quick' could boast the presence of Ian Hendry ('Police Surgeon'; 'The Avengers'; 'Doppelgänger'; 'The Lotus Eaters') as Captain Don Quick (Don Quixote) and Ronald Lacey ('The Avengers'; 'Porridge'; 'Our Mutual friend'; 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark') as Sergeant Sam Czopanser (Sancho Panza), with many other well-known British actors of the day making an appearance. It was (to me, as a pre-teen) a slightly (and intriguingly) risqué affair, so I watched it whenever I could.
It was a monumentally cheap-looking piece of television and must have had a microscopic budget. Due to the widespread policy of British TV production companies of re-using videotape, almost nothing of this series now exists.