The Christmas Dream Musical Analysis: The Kingdom's Pioneering Stage-to-Screen Spectacle in Half a Century Is Big On Heartfelt Pageantry.
Reportedly the first Thai musical in half a century, The Christmas Dream is directed by Englishman Paul Spurrier and offers up a curious blend of the contemporary and the classic. It functions as a contemporary Oliver Twist that journeys from the northern highlands to the urban sprawl of Bangkok, featuring vintage, vibrant visuals and plenty of heartstring-tugging show-stopping numbers. The music and lyrics are the work of Spurrier, set to an orchestral score from Mickey Wongsathapornpat.
A Journey of Hope and Morality
Portrayed with a steely resolve but in a more diminutive frame, young actress Amata Masmalai plays Lek, a pre-teen schoolgirl. She is forced to escape after her violent stepfather Nin (portrayed by Vithaya Pansringarm) brutally kills her mother. Setting out with only her one-legged doll Bella for company, Lek is guided by a unyielding sense of right and wrong, promised toward a better life by the spirit of her late mum. Her path is peppered with a series of picaresque characters who test her resolve, including a pampered rich girl desperately seeking a true friend and a charlatan physician peddling dubious remedies.
The director's love of the song-and-dance format is abundantly clear – or, to be precise, it is gloriously evident. The early countryside sequences in particular bottle the warm, vibrant feel reminiscent of The Sound of Music.
Dance and Cinematic Flair
The dance routines frequently has a quickstep snap and pace. A memorable highlight breaks out on a financial district campus, which serves as Lek's first taste of the Bangkok rat race. Featuring suited professionals cartwheeling in and out of a great mechanical cortege, this represents the one instance where The Christmas Dream touches upon the abstract sophistication found in classic era musical cinema.
Musical and Narrative Shortcomings
Although richly arranged, a lot of the score is too bland both in melody and lyrics. Rather than studding songs at key points in the plot, Spurrier saturates the film with them, seemingly overcompensating for a underdeveloped narrative. Only during the beginning and conclusion – with the tragedy of Lek's mother and when her spirits wane in Bangkok – is there enough challenge to offset an otherwise straightforward and saccharine journey.
Fleeting hints of mild social commentary, such as when Lek's sudden good fortune has avaricious villagers swarming her, are unlikely to satisfy older viewers. Young children might embrace the pervasive optimism, the exotic setting fails to disguise a fundamentally sense of blandness.
