Review: Documentary 'Dear Santa' doesn't give enough credit to the real-life volunteers who bring Christmas to thousands of kids
Children, the documentary “Dear Santa” shows some of the many helpers across the United States — many of them working for the United States Postal Service — who answer thousands of letters mailed to Santa every year.
It’s a movie that believes in Santa as much as you do, children, and works to share that holiday joy that only Santa can bring.
Now be good little children and run off to bed, so Santa knows you’ve been behaving. OK, good night, and don’t worry your heads about anything else in this review.
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OK, now that the children aren’t reading this, it’s time for some harsh honesty: “Dear Santa” is a disappointing misfire of a movie that takes a juvenile approach to what could have been a fascinating subject.
Director Dana Nachman shows us the workings of Operation Santa, the U.S. Postal Service’s annual effort to help some of the thousands of children, and some adults, who write letters to Santa Claus.
In some towns, postmasters take on the job, to solicit donations and gather toys and other goods to fulfill the wishes of the young letter writers. In bigger cities, postal employees hand over the letters to charity organizations, whose volunteers take on the herculean effort of making a merry Christmas for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have one.
In Chico, Calif., for example, a postmistress gets emotional talking about trying to help families in her town, some of whom lost their homes in the wildfires that destroyed the town of Paradise. In Chicago, a couple and their friends take on gift-giving for large families. In Lansing, Mich., a couple adopts a rescue dog to give to a 12-year-old girl who asked for a puppy for her little sister. And so on.
Nachman, who followed the training of guide dogs for the blind in “Pick of the Litter,” skims the surface of these stories, creating a series of feel-good features without deeper context. There’s a lot in these stories that speaks to such issues as economic inequity and the limits of charity, but are left unsaid.
Then there’s the decision Nachman makes that undercuts “Dear Santa” and the people she’s profiling: Depicting Santa as a real person, rather than a fanciful story adults tell their kids. The narrative device may allow young audiences to watch — but it demeans the humans who are doing Santa’s job, giving a fictional character credit for their hard work.
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‘Dear Santa’
★★
Opens Friday, December 4, in theaters where open. Not rated, but probably G. Running time; 83 minutes.