Favorite Christmas Movies 2009

What are your favorite Christmas movies? The stories that leave you thoughtful and joyful. Last year I wrote about three such movies. This year, I'm going to add another to the list. Again, this year's pick is not really a Christmas movie, but it does leave you thoughtful.

Detailed descriptions from last year's choices, of Christmas and Course-themed movies, Babette's Feast, The Princess Bride, and Matter of Heart are in the 2008 Christmas blog post. I'll give a brief description of each one here and add the recommendation for this year at the end.

Babette's Feast might be the only one the films in this list that has an actual Christmas scene in it, and it comes near the end. This is the one must-see Christmas movie for Course students, in my opinion. It has everything you need to make one heck of a thoughtful and, ultimately, joyful memory. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1988.

The only part of The Princess Bride that is Christmas-y is the very beginning and ending. And that is only because Grandpa, played by Peter Falk, tells the story to his grandson, who is in bed with a sniffle, and it happens to be Christmas time; you see the Christmas decorations in the background. It is a brilliant movie, a beautiful love story, and filled with humor for the grown-ups. I love the part where two on a journey want to kill each other with poison, but, try as they do, both live and they continue happily on their journey.

Matter of Heart is not technically a Christmas movie at all, but when else would you watch it? It is the masterful documentary of Carl Jung's life. Forgiveness exemplified, and reflections of A Course in Miracles throughout.

Brother From Another Planet

This year, I want to add another film to the list. Brother From Another Planet is an art film directed by John Sayles. No Christmas scenes here, but the result is beautiful and healing. Brother comes to the planet in human form, so he is able to blend in. He finds devastation and uses his powers to heal what he sees. The film was made in 1984, so some of the futuristic technology will seem like everyday things to some of you now, but bear with it and think what you could do if you could stretch your everyday technology to use for good as "Brother" does in this film. And remember, Aliens are our brothers.

IMDb has this regarding Brother From Another Planet:
"Welcome to a world of crude beauty... of danger and excitement... of wonders, legend, and imagination... Welcome to Harlem, Brother."

and this from archive.org:
"A mute alien is chased by outer-space bounty hunters through the streets of Harlem in this thought-provoking cult classic."

What do you think of these? What are your favorites?