Figure 1.--This scene shows the child prodigy pianist (from a wealthy family) that the Cirulitis boys are susoposed to be looking after. He wears a white blouse, black velvet suspender short pants, and white long stockings. He is fondling a pet white rat. I think that is a cage behind him.

This is an unpretentious little film that has the ring of authenticity about it and deals in as sensitive away about an ordinary family during the holidays. The title means something like (difficult to translate) "A Christmas Turmoil" (seems to be closest). Other translations could be: "A Christmas Alarm", "A Christmas Commotion", or "A Christmas Flurry" or something like that. This movie was filmed in Latvian and translated into Russian and widely broadcasted during Christmas in othgeer European coutries as well. The movie is a family drama set in 1935 when Latvia was an independent country--before they were invaded by the Soviet Union. The boy in the film gets into trouble and his mom makes him wear short pants and long stockings which he objects to because he thinks that he is to old. It is not a big punishment for him, but he is not at all happy about it. Finally his mother forgives him and he is able to wear long trousers for Christmas.

Title

The Latvian title is `Ziemassvetku Jampadracis'. The Russian title is 'Novogodniy Perepoloh'. This means something like approximately (difficult to translate) "A Christmas Turmoil" (seems to be closest). Other translations could be: "A Christmas Alarm", "A Christmas Commotion", or "A Christmas Flurry" or something like that. The film was also shown in Finland and Germany in dubbed versions, I believe. The German title, "Ausfergung um Weichnacthen" translates as "Christmas Turmoil". A German reader writes, "I hardly know any Russian or Latvian, but if the title of this film is 'Christmas Turmoil' the German translation should be 'Aufruhr um Weihnachten' or still better 'Aufruhr zu Weihnachten'." The Russian reader who first alerted us to this film, translated the title as 'New Years Turmoil'. This was because in Soviet times, traditions like Christmas trees were transferred to New Years as religious holidays like supressed as part of the Soviet athiest campaigns. This film is set, however in 1935, before the Soviet invasion in 1940.

Filmology

This movie was filmed in Latvian and translated into Russian and widely broadcasted during Christmas. The movie is a family drama set in 1935 when Latvia was an independent country--before they were invaded by the Soviet Union. The director of the film was a distinguished Latvian film director (born 15 April 1939) who worked in Riga. He has won several awards. His name is Varis Brasla. The script was beautifully wtitten by Alvis Lapins. The film was the winner of several prestigious awards. It won the Chicago's and Frankfurt's children's film festivals.

Cast

The numerous children are not differentiated by name so the oldest boy (who gets in trouble with the police and whose mother makes him wear short pants and long stockings as punishment) is not named.

Setting

The setting is Latvia in 1935 when it was an independent country and observed Christmas in the traditional European way, although the holiday trees in the film don't seem to have any explicit Christian symbols visible. But we do see the family dog at one point licking an image of the Virgin and Child.

Figure 2.--The boy is seen here after his mother has forgiven him and he is able to wear lomng trousers for Christmas.

Plot

'Ziemassvetku Jampadracis' describes the Cirulisis, a tight knit family whichb is having problems. The events are not particularly notable. It is the authenticity of the presenration which makes this a norable film. We see the difficulties the Cirulitis family are having during the Christmas season. Father Cirulitis has failed to get the job of music instructor for which he had applied. He is having trouble supportinbg his family giving pino lessons as he has only a few students. He can't even get a Christmas tree for the children, but even worse he does ot have the rent money and the landlord may evict them. The children are not paragons. They have not been studying as they should. Their teacher has handed out report cards and which bthey are not anxious to show their parents. Even worst, the oldest boy had to report to the police station. He has been falsely accused of throwing a snowball at a policeman. And the two youngest children are also in trouble. They have been tasked with entertaining a musical prodigy. And he getsc injured just before the concert he is to give. And they know they will get blamed. The film brings all these disparatevstory lines together in a warm family film told about obviously real people, not slick studio caracatures. The Cirulisis family despite all their difficulties are depicted as a warm, engaging family wrestling as a caring group with their problems. This is seen in contrast with the wealthy family of the child prodigy.

Costuming

The producers have taken great care with accurately depicting the clothing the childrenb wearvin the film. The children in the film wear a variety of outfits. Mostly we see short pants and long stockings. This would be historically correct. Boys in Latvia and other northern European countries coomonly wore short pants all year round and with long stockings during the winter. Clothing styles in Latvia and other Baltic countries were strongly influenced by the large German fashion indutry. The child prodigy pianist (from a wealthy family) wears black velvet suspender shorts with a white blouse and white long stockings. This seems accurate for boys from wealthy families. He is fondling a pet white rat. The two younger Cirulisi children also wear long stockings. They have different colors, including whjite for dressing up. The older Cirulisi boy who is about 12-13 years old gets into trouble and his mom makes him wear short pants and long stockings which he objects to because he thinks that he is to old. It is not a big punishment for him, but he is not at all happy about it. Finally his mother forgives him and he is able to wear long trousers for Christmas. He wears a black and white checked shirt and the shorts and long stockings that his mother has insisted upon. He also wears long trousers.

Created: December 26, 2001
Last updated: 6:15 PM 1/21/2012