AS travel plans over the festive period are scuppered by increasingly stringent lockdown regulations, let these five films selected by the South China Morning Post regale you with Christmas stories from all around the world. 1. Joyeux NoEl (2005) One of the most famous Christmas celebrations of the 20th century took place during World War I, when an unofficial cease-fire was declared Dec. 24, 1914, along the frontlines of northern Europe. French, British and German soldiers put down their weapons, emerged from their trenches into No Man’s Land, and celebrated the holiday together, drinking, singing and even playing soccer. Those involved would be severely reprimanded in the aftermath, and the war would drag on for four more miserable years. But for a few brief hours, politics was put out of their minds, as they bonded over their shared struggle to survive the bitterly cold winter and dismal living conditions. Christian Carion’s film picked up a best foreign language film nomination at the Academy Awards for its heartwarming representation of humanity triumphing over adversity, while a star-studded cast of European heavyweights, including Daniel Bruhl, Guillaume Canet, Dany Boon and Diane Kruger (as a visiting opera singer), add dramatic heft. 2. Tokyo Godfathers (2003) Master animator Satoshi Kon put his distinctive authorial spin on the Nativity story in this 2003 Yuletide tale. On a wintry Christmas Eve night in Tokyo, a trio of mismatched vagrants discover a newborn baby, discarded in a large pile of rubbish and accompanied by a bag of items giving clues as to the baby’s identity. Middle-aged drunkard Gin, former drag queen Nana and teenage runaway Miyuki go in search of the infant’s parents. As the night unfolds, they meet a number of questionable individuals and become embroiled in a series of shady encounters. In true Dickensian fashion, each of the three homeless heroes must also contend with very literal ghosts from their own chequered pasts. As visually arresting as any of Kon’s animated works, “Tokyo Godfathers” is humorous, exciting and brimming with outlandish incidents and curious characters. The film also casts a sympathetic eye on the struggling underclass of Japan’s urban metropolis, whose stories too rarely see the light of day. 3. Bushfire Moon (1987) Released in the United States as “Miracle Down Under,” “Bushfire Moon” presents a very different festive season, one in the sweltering heat of the Australian outback, circa 1891. Dee Wallace and John Peters play a couple of struggling sheep farmers, who live at the mercy of the decidedly Scrooge-like local landowner, and any festivities fall by the wayside when the area is ravaged by a destructive bushfire. When their 8-year-old son Ned (Andrew Ferguson) mistakes a curmudgeonly old drifter (Charles Tingwell) for Father Christmas, he is determined to prove he has been a good boy and get some presents, despite what his parents have told him. But the drifter has old scores of his own that he is intent on settling before the holidays are over. The spectacular sun-scorched wilderness of Southern Australia presents a refreshingly original backdrop for this familiar, yet shamelessly well-intentioned holiday tale which proves there’s more to Christmas than mulled wine and reindeer. 4. Fanny and Alexander (1982) Ingmar Bergman’s final theatrical feature was this sprawling epic about the changing fortunes of a wealthy family in turn-of-the-century Sweden, as witnessed through the eyes of its youngest members, Alexander — a surrogate for the director himself — and his little sister Fanny. While the story follows Alexander’s mother, Emilie (Ewa FrOling), as she is widowed and then marries a tyrannical bishop, the film begins with a lavish Christmas Eve celebration. Following a performance at the family-run theater, seemingly half the town descends upon the cavernous Ekdahl home for a gastronomic feast of Yuletide revelry. Washed down with copious alcohol and seasonal cheer, it is a sequence that offsets its eye-popping decadence with a warmth and gaiety that only the most pious might be able to resist. 5. Rare Exports (2010) Not everywhere is Santa Claus, a jolly fat man who brings gifts to good children. In the frosty Finnish hinterland, “Joulupukki” is a mythical goat-man who frightens children and snatches away those who have misbehaved. Jalmari Helander’s outlandish holiday adventure sees traditional folklore and Hollywood action movie aesthetics collide, when a team of geologists unearth a very different incarnation of St. Nick in the mountains of Lapland. The situation gets even stranger when a local farmer awakens to discover his entire herd of reindeer has been slaughtered, prompting him to set out with his young son (played by real-life father-son duo Jorma and Onni Tommila) to uncover the truth behind Santa Claus once and for all. From its excellent performances to its shades of fairy tale grotesquerie, “Rare Exports” more than lives up to its title as a one-of-a-kind Christmas treat for the whole family. Once discovered, it is guaranteed to secure a permanent place beneath the Christmas tree, alongside other unorthodox festive favorites like “Gremlins” and “Die Hard.” (SD-Agencies) | 