Kevin Boissonneault

Watching this, my first reaction felt like this was what A Christmas Carol would look like with Stieg Larsson at the helm. The tone, from start to finish is bleak with some of the most vile characterizations than could be rendered by any Dickens story. Dickens was not one to shy away from the human condition and certainly not one to gloss over the darkness in human hearts, but this goes beyond the pale. To it's benefit, this version portrays Scrooge as an immensely detestable figure. For some reason, it also seems to put him on the Autistic spectrum with some odd obsessive/complusive behaviors. It ups the ante however not simply by his childhood being one of abandonment by his father, but that his father was in a 'devil's bargain' with the schoolmaster using Scrooge as a sex slave to defer his tuition costs. The scene in most tales of his sister coming to bring Scrooge home, showing how her love for him softened the heart of his estranged father is replaced by a scene where the sister removes Scrooge herself from the school at gunpoint, and perhaps alluding to that she killed the father. There are the three spirits, and during the interlude with the Ghost of Christmas Past, it is learned that Scrooge offered money to Cratchit's wife for Tim's medical treatment. When the bargain is struck, it is originally presented that Scrooge wishes to have sex with Cratchit's wife, forcing her to leave her family on Christmas Day to come to him in order to get the money. When she arrives however, he simply degrades her by stating she showed that 'everyone has a price' and will betray any vow if that price is met. He then uses the exchange to make Cratchit's wife an ally to keep Bob in his service at the risk of revealing the extortion if Bob ever decides to leave. The dark tome of the movie continues to the very end, where there is no real moment of healing or redemption. Scrooge allows Cratchit to leave for a new job and offers him more money. Cratchit's wife states she will never forgive Scrooge. There is no reconciliation with his nephew and Scrooge simply decides to close up his business. I am disappointed that the relationship Scrooge had with his sister is so muddied. In the original tale, Scrooge loves his sister very much and her loss leads to some of the darkness in his heart. He is shown that, even though he is, surprisingly, pitied by his nephew, he is still deeply loved by him as the nephew inherited his mother's heart for Scrooge. This causes a great personal transformation within Scrooge towards his only remaining kin and he is able to seek and receive forgiveness. The series does explore what at first I thought was anachronistic, but after researching learned was, not common, but also not unheard of, which was an interracial marriage between the Cratchit's. The inclusion of the detail brought nothing to the story nor did it take away from it. The production quality was well done as were many of the effects. Aside from that, though, the darkness of the story and the disrespect to the source material I disliked.