FX's "A Christmas Carol" starring Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge premiered in 2019 to decidedly mixed opinions. This adaptation of Charles Dickens' canonical Christmas story, while adhering to the fundamental plotline of the original, took many imaginative liberties and was intensely dark, with frightening imagery and adult themes. It's not for family viewing if your family has youngsters. Purists will likely hate it, both for the plot additions and for the disturbing bleakness.
I absolutely loved it.
Now, I've enjoyed most of the many versions of "A Christmas Carol". I love the Patrick Stewart version, the first one I watched. Alistair Sim's film is my favorite of the traditional tellings. Reginald Owen's - also great, and the prettiest spirit of Christmas Past ever. Muppet Christmas Carol is amazing. The Albert Finney musical - wonderful! I'm personally 'meh' about George C. Scott's version, but it's fine, just not a fave.
So, why do I love the FX version? I'll clue you in, without complete unabashed spoilers. However, I may give away more than you'd like if you intend to watch it for the first time, so I'll give you some spoiler buffer space.
First, though, a couple non-spoiler aspects. I thought that the filmmaking, photography, and visual artistry was amazing. The abject bleakness was beautiful in its presentation. I was very impressed with the presented craft of filmmaking.
Second, a plot point that's not a secret, nor a spoiler. In this version, Ebenezer Scrooge is not just a cranky old miser mad at the world and himself. Ebenezer Scrooge is a very, very, bad man. He is a rotten to the core human being. He is evil, so much so that as I was watching it, I literally wondered how the writers would ever be able to convincingly depict his redemption. Waking up on Christmas morning and sending a turkey from the poulter to the Cratchits would be hollow and unbelievable.
Ok, now the spoiler buffer. Exit now if you don't want to know any more. Go watch it instead 😀
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Do you remember the episode of "Friends" where Phoebe watched all of "It's a Wonderful Life" except for the last half hour? She thought there was nothing wonderful at all about it. It's possible that many people who were critical of FX's 'Carol' bailed too soon, like Phoebe. Just a thought.
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So, I'll leave out the precise details, but what makes me love this movie is the moment of Scrooge's redemption. I literally get chills thinking about it, even as I write this sentence. Every other movie depicts this, faithful to Dickens, as when Scrooge realizes that he himself is bad or has done bad things, but he can change. He can change his behavior, and alter the visions of the future that he was shown by the Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come. The outcomes are good, and persistent, and he makes the lives of others better, but he mainly changes his own life and legacy. It's all about him. "An American Christmas Carol", with Henry Winkler, was a prime example of this. To paraphrase, Winkler's Slade said to himself "I won't be remembered like this". His actions were about self, though impacting others positively.
Guy Pearce's Scrooge's redemption was completely selfless, a dramatic redirection of the moment from every other filmed version. It was sudden, and absolutely about others, nothing about self. In fact, in the seconds immediately preceding, Scrooge said to the Spirit, "I know it's too late for me". It was an incredibly powerful minute of filmmaking. Then watching the dénouement following the redemptive moment was wholly and completely satisfying. Well done, writers.
So there you go. Watch if you dare :-)
