Story

According to legend, many years ago in the downtrodden village of Gladbury, a humble candlemaker prayed for a miracle to improve the lives of all of the villagers. Because the candlemaker wasn’t praying for himself, an angel appeared and touched one of his candles until it glowed brightly. From that day on, life in Gladbury greatly improved and the villagers were happy. Every 25 years since then, the angel has appeared on Christmas Eve and touched a candle, making a miracle for the person who lit it.

When a new young minister arrives in Gladbury, he declares the belief in miracles to be highly superstitious. Having lost his wife and daughter to tuberculosis, the Reverend David Richmond (Hans Matheson) believes that miracles only happen through the good works of men. He brings the villagers together and encourages them to do good deeds for their neighbours. It is also the dawn of the age of electricity, so David sees this as the future for Gladbury and wants to do away with all the candles.

The Gladbury Angel, however, has different ideas.

Themes

Fantasy and superstition; death of family members

Violence

The Christmas Candle has some violence and accidental harm. For example:

  • Ruth (Victoria Bewick), a young pregnant girl, is thrown out of her home and onto the streets.
  • Edward Haddington (Sylvester McCoy) slips over on his glasses and knocks the rack of candles over on top of himself.

Sexual references

Ruth is a single mother, which makes her an outcast in the 19th century.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

None of concern

Nudity and sexual activity

None of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Coarse language

None of concern

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Christmas Candle is a family movie about the magic of Christmas. It’s a very gentle movie, but there are some tense moments that will need parental guidance for young children. The movie emphasises the Christian belief in Christmas as a religious event.

The main messages from this movie are that faith and good works are not mutually exclusive and that miracles can happen if you believe strongly enough.

Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include faith, belief in miracles, helping your neighbour, kindness, generosity and selflessness.

Supported By

Raising Children Network is supported by the Australian Government. Member organisations are the Parenting Research Centre and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with The Royal Children’s Hospital Centre for Community Child Health.

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