Limelight: Off to Wonderland By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Welcome to the wonders of the season. Once, a day that celebrated a religious event, the birth of Jesus Christ, it has evolved into a joyful festive season for all mankind. Its spirit of mirth, traditions, colours, music, laughter, love, charity and generosity has penetrated the four corners of the globe. We all join in celebrating the end of a year and embracing the dawn of a new beginning, as we did it in days of yore. The secular mingles with the religious as mistletoe and holly blend with evergreens and flaming red poinsettias. Shop windows are decked with the colours of the season, and gifts galore are daintily wrapped for Santa to distribute on Christmas Eve. The mood is set with blazing fireplaces, brightly-lit candles and that special Christmas music which echoes through the air, lifting our spirits in joy and ecstasy. We would be wise to breathe in our fill of that wondrous magical atmosphere that exhilarates and stimulates... for Christmas comes but once a year. Those festive days may be few, but they are tailored to satisfy all our senses, the palette, the sight, the sound and especially the heart and soul. Bookstores overflow with new publications. Operas, ballets, plays are plentiful. Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" is surely playing somewhere, so is Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". You are filled with a sense of wonder that makes you wish it were Christmas forever. Yet, nothing puts you in the Holiday mood like a good old-fashioned movie.. or even a brand new one. Going to the movies is like taking time off from the real world for a trip to wonderland. Perhaps that is why film has become the most popular art-form in history. They call it the 'democratic' art because of its affordability, availability and universality. Renowned film director Martin Scrosese once said: "it fulfills a spiritual need to share a common memory". Going to the movies with family and friends, flushed with excitement and anticipation, we get ready to embark on a journey to wonderland. Magic happens, despite mouths stuffed with popcorn. That is why we seek it again and again. Of all the pleasurable Christmas activities, sumptuous meal aside, film viewing surrounded by sound and a big screen has to rank tops on the list. Studios, Producers, Distributors and theatre owners await this time of year for their major share of profit. Traditionally, Christmas films catering to tiny tots break all box-office records. Off from school, children are anxious for new and different experiences and filmmakers are only too willing to oblige. Their choice crop is revealed at year's end, and the result is at least one or two hits that endure. Hundreds of films have been made about Christmas for Christmas or around Christmas, filled with the primary virtues of loving and giving, sharing and caring. Some of the memorable productions that have become classics and perennial favourites of all generations are: "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946), "Bells of Saint Mary's" (1945), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947). But, there must be some recent ones for today's viewers: "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas", "Home Alone" (1990), "Trading Places" (1983) and animated favourites such as "Frosty The Snowman" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and always and forever there is" A Christmas Carol". Not every production released at this time has a Christmas theme, neither is every one memorable. Fortunately, some are. Stories with heart have survived for decades because of their basic human morality and ethicality. Surely one or more of this year's dozen Christmas releases will carry you off to more joys of Christmas wonderland. If you are a Sandra Bullock fan, the pretty brunette is in perfect form as a blonde feisty Southern Belle, who takes in a homeless black boy, and helps him fulfill his potential as a professional football player. The film is directed by John Lee Hancock and is based on a true story. Since its release it has amassed a fortune at the box-office. John Travolta teams up with Robin Williams for a hilarious and touching story of two best friends, one divorced and unlucky in love, the other, a fun-loving devil-may-care bachelor.. Travolta.. of course. Their lives are turned up-side down, when, unexpectedly, they are charged with the care of six-year old twins... a laughing trip you will want to last. Vampires, zombies and other paranormal activities, and things that go bump-in-the-night... for the hardy hearts, are abundant. Director Ronald Emmerich is predicting death and destruction in "2012". Some of us will remember he put us through the grinder in "Independence Day" and created havoc with his global warming catastrophe in "The Day After Tomorrow". It is not hard to fathom why he was so attracted to a date on the Mayan Calendar that predicts the end of the world in 2012. Children will be treated to one of their favourite classics of the modern era... Maurice Sendak's "Where The Wild Things Are"... I remember reading it hundreds of times to my grandchildren, mustering every talent in my possession to visually describe all the wild things that grow in little Max's bedroom. Now, here they come, wild and wonderful on the wide screen in vivid, vibrant colour, with your menagerie of monsters and sea creatures... you can almost touch them. Director Spike Jonze has recreated the magic of the book with sensitivity and splendour... verily a magical wonderland where those wild things grow. There can be no Christmas without Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". Since its inception by Charles Dickens in 1843, it has become as much a part of Christmas as Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer... At least two dozen films have been made about Scrooge, and Christmas Carol, but do we ever tire of them? "A Christmas Carol" is a journey of the heart in the company of three ghosts Christmas Past, Present and Future. It is a timeless lesson of transformation and redemption, of love cherished and love shared. Its theme is as much a social polemic as it is a religious parable. This season, comedian Jim Carrey brings his own brand of charm to the steely-souled old miser, who becomes the warm and loving Uncle Scrooge... Director Robert Zemecki's Scrooge and his scornful "Bah-Humbug" will resonate for years to come. No other Yuletide tale is as magical as Dickens' "Christmas Carol" with a message as pertinent today as it was 150 years ago. No sound is more joyous and more heartfelt as tiny Tim's wish for mankind "God Bless us, everyone" "At Christmas, Play and make good cheer For Christmas comes but once a year" -- Thomas Turser (1528 -- 1580)
