''The Christmas Candle'' is a 2013 British-American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

drama film directed by John Stephenson.

Introduction

It is based on Max Lucado's novel '' The Christmas Candle''. The film is an Impact and Big Book Media production presented by Pinewood Pictures and distributed by

Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's third ...

's film production company EchoLight Studios in the US and by Pinewood Pictures in the UK.Caitlin McDecvitt
Rick Santorum to release a Christmas movie
''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'', 9/25/13 It is

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the Britain's Got Talent (series 3), third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from '. Bo ...

's debut on the big screen. Boyle also contributes an original song to the film, "Miracle Hymn".

Locations

It was shot in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

and in the

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.Pinewood Group
/ref> Locations included

Stanway House Stanway House is a Jacobean manor house, located near the village of Stanway in Gloucestershire, England. The manor of Stanway was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls ...

, Tudor House in the Worcestershire village of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, and the Wiltshire village of

Biddestone Biddestone is a village and civil parish in northwest Wiltshire, England, about west of Chippenham and north of Corsham. The parish includes the smaller settlement of Slaughterford. Geography The Bybrook River forms the western boundary of t ...

, including the White Horse pub. Studio work was completed on the

in the Mountain View Media Village studios in

Lezayre Lezayre ( ; gv, Creest ny h-Ayrey), formally Kirk Christ Lezayre, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located in the north of the island (part of the traditional ''North Side'' division) in the sheading of Ayre. ...

Summary

In the fictional village of Gladbury, every twenty-five years an angel visits the candlemaker and bestows a miracle upon whoever lights the Christmas Candle. The whole town believes in the candle except the new pastor, Rev. David Richmond. It is 1890 and the Haddingtons make candles and the town and church use them. It is the Christmas season and the pastor preaches the Advent themes and lights a candle each Sunday. He tries to convince the town folk to believe in God and not candle miracles. The angel appears and marks a special candle. Whoever lights that candle will receive a miracle. Mr. Haddington wants to keep the candle for himself so that their missing son will return and live in Gladbury. However, on the night that the candle is to be blessed, the magic candle is misplaced when the prepared candles are knocked over and the Christmas candle cannot be identified. Despite this, the Haddingtons pass out candles to a boy who can't talk, a woman who wants to find a husband, a blind man and twenty-six other candles to people who all have individual needs, suggesting to each that they have the Christmas candle but not saying it explicitly. The preacher wants people to pray to God and not seek hope and change in a candle. Reverend Richmond at his own expense has the church wired with new and modern lightbulbs as a further example for folk not to rely upon candles. At a church service he has the candles extinguished and the lights turned on. It goes terribly wrong. The bulbs explode and a fire is started. A man dies in the ensuing panic. Few parishioners attend next Sunday. Christmas Eve service comes and the candle miracle is to be revealed. Many people think that they had received the blessed candle after the Haddingtons passed them out. The boy can talk, a man got a job, a woman's debts were forgiven, a man's beloved cat is saved, the woman is engaged and the blind man could see just before he died. The minister thinks God has answered their prayers. The Christmas candle has not yet been lit. The Pastor had sent for pregnant Ruth to come to Gladbury. Her wagon has wrecked and when the candle is lighted in the attempt to find her it shines with a preternatural light and she is rescued. It turns out that the Haddington's son is the father of Ruth's child and, in that way, he does indeed return to town. Even the minister's faith in miracles is restored.

Theology

''The Christmas Candle'' makes use of the Bible and the main character, the pastor, quotes Jesus from the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

s while focusing on the Advent season. The viewpoint of the movie is a mixture of

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

theology, where the main character is struggling to find his lost faith.

Cast

Reception

On the aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film received 21% positive reviews based on 24 reviews with an average rating of 4.2/10. The New York '' Daily News'' described it as a "Dickens-meets-Sunday-school movie", and that it was "as artless as the setup asmuddled". The ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' referred to it as a "throwback, made-for-TV-style film" with a "cheesy climax". ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily Lists of newspapers, newspaper published in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain ...

'' judged it as "resolutely stiff and hollow". Rare positive reviews included '' The Portsmouth News'', which gave the film 4 stars writing "Boyle's performance is endearing and her stunning vocal talent continues to dazzle while the gentle chemistry between Matheson and Barks complements the piece without upstaging the film's central ideas." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' wrote, "Hammy histrionics of a Hallmark movie are present, but its message of community and faith shines brighter."

The Dove Foundation The Dove Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, that issues film reviews, ratings and endorsements of movies that it considers suitable for family audiences, and that bases said reviews on Christian values. D ...

awarded 5 Doves as a "Family-Approved" film. The film expanded from five to over 390 venues for its second week.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas Candle, The 2013 films 2010s Christmas drama films American Christmas drama films American independent films British Christmas drama films British independent films Films about Christianity Films about religion Films based on American novels Films set in 1890 Films set in England Films shot in Gloucestershire Films shot in the Isle of Man Films shot in Worcestershire Films shot at Pinewood Studios 2013 independent films 2013 drama films 2010s English-language films Films directed by John Stephenson (director) 2010s American films 2010s British films American pregnancy films British pregnancy films English-language Christmas films