How the movie 'Klaus' melted my cold Christmas heart

This is a special christmas edition of my newsletter for Christmas eve…

Here we go again it's that time of year when I get called a Grinch for declining to engage in the hysteria of Christmas.

“Have some holiday cheer”

“Its Christmas, get into the spirit, eat, drink, be merry”. Start over next year.

I can ‘get into the spirit’ anytime of the year I want, preferably overproof Wray and Nephew white rum mixed with coke.

But what I don’t understand is why there are so many social rules that must be followed all because, Christmas.

Why does it have to feel so offensive to people to just not care.

I’ve never been one for ruining Christmas for anyone. As a child I enjoyed Christmas, the mythology of Santa, the presents, the merriment just like everyone else.

But my inner christmas child must have faded away, probably somewhere during the course of working as a junior doctor oncall over christmas.

Now all I see is people trying to recreate the magic of Christmas they experienced as a child.

So hopefully that gives you some context into my mindset when I first watched “Klaus”.

I’ll briefly summarize it before I tell you why it’s the greatest Christmas film of all time.

‘Klaus’ tells the origin story of Santa Claus.

It follows a character called Jesper, who is the post master general’s spoiled bratty son. He's sent to the distant and desolate island of Smeerensburg (?fictional Lapland) to work as punishment. In order for him to return home he has to meet a quota for mail deliveries.

The island is torn by a long standing feud between two families. The people there have no interest in sending or receiving mail all they do is have massive brawls in the streets.

Jesper discovers a reclusive toymaker named Klaus living in the woods and comes up with a plan to have the children of Smeerensburg post letters to Klaus in return for a toy.

The rest is of the movie is then Jesper and Klaus working together to bring joy to the children which also begins to heal divisions in the community.

Its very wholesome and explores themes of friendship, generosity and the true spirit of Christmas.

The man, the myth, the Legend

Now then ***Spoiler warning*** if you’ve not seen it and want to watch it first.

The movie explains the mythology of Santa Claus from a realistic perspective that actually makes sense.

As in it could actually happen in the real world, there’s no overt magic but it still gives a magical feeling that is open to interpretation.

There are multiple examples of Santa traditions within the movie. I’ll discuss my thoughts by summarising and commenting on some of them.

Chimney Entrance

Klaus is a recluse and doesn’t want anyone to see him, he only agrees to deliver the presents with Jesper at night. Therefore Jesper is forced to break in and initially Klaus helps by launching him through the chimney.

Klaus/Santa is a huge guy, it makes no sense as a wise old man for his master plan to involve sqeezing his massive body through a narrow chimney to enter a house.

Instead of simply ‘magic’ or a skeleton key we get a new explanation that seems a lot more feasible.

Jesper is small and slim so can easily fit through the chimney.

Of course Jesper has already scapered before the child discovers the present he’s dropped. The child then glimpses the Giant Klaus standing outside the window and assumes he’s responsible for the chimney commotion and present.

Naughty and Nice List

During the deliveries Jesper recognises the home of a child who had messed with him when he’d first arrived in Smeerensburg. Instead of giving him a present he gives him a piece of coal to get back at him.

The next day when the kid complains Jesper says that Klaus knows he’s been bad and keeps a list, only delivering presents to the nice kids.

Again the addition of the Jesper character just makes this whole naughty and nice list work.

The magic is created in the minds of the children but as adults we can appreciate the comedic reasoning behind it. Its also nice as it serves as a way to get the children to be kind and helpful to others against the negative influence of their militant families.

Flying Reindeer and Sleigh

Reindeer live in the woods near Klaus, once the present demand increases they use the reindeer to pull his sleigh.

By this point the waring clans angered by their children playing together due to Klaus and Jespers toy delivery chase after them.

The reindeer end up bolting with the sleigh off a cliff and jump to the other side. A kid sees them in the air from a distance through a small window and believes the reindeer are flying.

The awe within the child is undeniably wholesome and it takes me back to those same feelings I had hearing about the legend of Santa as a child.

Santas helpers/elves

After Klaus’ toy supply runs out, Jesper meets a little Sami girl that had wondered over to Smeerensburg.

He and Klaus go to great lengths to make and deliver a new toy to her. To show her appreciation she brings her whole extended family to help Klaus make more presents so that all the children can have a toy to play with on Christmas day.

They are dressed in bright Sami clothes and act as Santas little helpers, they also make a red outfit and sled for Klaus to wear.

I really like Jespers character development during the story, its quite simple but it demonstrates the contagious nature of good will.

He starts as a selfish and self centered person only concerned with his own agenda but as he starts to see the positive effect he’s having on the town the good person that was always inside of him is able to come out.

We haven’t learned Klaus’ full tragic back story yet, but watching the second time with this in mind hits different.

There is a particular montage:

• Jesper is determinedly making the toy for the little girl himself

• Klaus comes to help after resolving his own trauma

• They trek together to deliver the present

• The little girl is delighted with the toy sled and zooms around on the ice gleefully.

All with the title soundtrack ‘Invisible’ by Zara Larson playing in the background.

Its just too much…

Christmas Day

Christmas is just a religious holiday at this point which doesn’t include toys/gifts.

After Klaus’ toy supply runs out Jesper tries to get Klaus to make more toys by convincing him that every child should get a toy to play with on Christmas day to make them even happier.

Initally Jesper is only interested in doing it to mail enough letters so he can leave.

When the village elders discover Jespers mail target, they plot to get rid of him. They somehow inflate his numbers and alert his father to come.

Jesper’s father arrives in Smeerensburg to congratulate him on achieving his target and take him home.

However Jesper has now changed. His friendship with Klaus, his relationship with the local school teacher and the positive effect on the children all add up. He decides to stay and do the Christmas delivery with Klaus out of the goodness of his heart.

This then becomes the Christmas eve traditon of Santa delivering presents.

Spirit of Christmas

When Jesper first finds the giant like Klaus, he flees in terror and accidentally drops the picture drawn by the sad Smeerensburg kid.

A mysterious wind blows the picture into Klaus’ face. On seeing the picture he has a change of heart and resolves to bring a toy to the child.

Klaus and his wife had planned to have mutliple children and live togather in the house he’d built out in the woods for them.

Klaus made all the toys in preparation for the kids they’d have.

They waited many years trying to concieve, but unfortunately his wife died to illness.

This explains why he’s so depressed at the start of the film.

The montage at the end of the movie shows Jesper, Klaus and the helpers expanding the Christmas operation each year to deliver presents to more children.

Klaus ages as the years go by until eventually after 12 years he is shown chopping wood in the forest when a mysterious wind blows around him.

He says “I’m coming love” and walks toward the light through the trees guided by the wind and then disappears.

Jesper looks all over for him before saying he just “faded away”.

Jesper appears to accept the explanation as unknown as he sits by the fire on Christmas eve waiting expectedly.

He says “what I do know is that once a year, I get to see my friend” and we hear the sleigh bells jingling.

It’s a really nice ending that leaves abit of mystery and imagination.

You could assume that there’s some magic force that has allowed Klaus to continue delivering presents all over the world on Christmas as Santa.

Or you could interpret it as Jesper talking about feeling the spirit of his old friend bound to the special memory of Christmas eve.

I feel the second interpretation, its more relatable to real life than magic. It gives a more meaningful understanding of the christmas spirit and where it comes from.

It makes me feel like I can understand the ‘why’ behind all the festivities abit more. It overshadows all the commercialisation of christmas.

The spirit of christmas lives forever, its the driving force behind all acts of goodwill that runs through people propagating further good will.

It started with the spirit of Klaus’ wife which sets him on the path to become the legendary spirit of christmas himself.

This spirit is what is still alive today influencing people to do good deeds and bring joy to one another.

It lives in parents that create Santa in the minds of their children. It whats makes them recount all of his impossible feats to bring them joy.

It lives in the minds of innocent children who believe in the magic of Santa and try their best to be good and kind.

It cycles endlessy as those children grow and have their own children.

That is the story of a Legend.

That is the story that melted my cold christmas heart.

Thats all for now

Merry Christmas and All the best for the New Year

Lewis

P.S.

Thank you for reading this special Christmas edition.

I’ve throughly enjoyed expressing and developing my thoughts via writing over the past 9 weeks! I plan to continue to bring you interesting articles that not only give you an insight into my brain and me as a person, but help you discover yourself too.

Next week I will be taking a break from writing the newsletter as I’ll be covering GP shortages over the days between the bank holidays.

I’ll be back with you on 7th Jan 2024

In the meantime as always feel free to comment or reach out to me via X, IG or Linked-In

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