On a December evening a few years ago, my husband and I were looking for a DVD to watch, and we happened to find a Christmas movie called "Midnight Clear." We didn't know anything about it, but decided to give it a try. When we started watching it, we realized it was a lower budget, independent film. A main character is played by Stephen Baldwin (the brother of Alec Baldwin, but he looks very un-Baldwin-like in this film). The rest of the actors are mostly people I didn't recognize.
As the movie unfolds, you get a look into the lives of some seriously depressed people. In one way or another, they are each dealing with loneliness, disappointment, or regret for past mistakes. Each scene seems increasingly dull and dark. I wondered, "How is this a Christmas movie?" but we kept watching.
As the movie nears its end, it is approaching Midnight on Christmas Eve, and something happens to each character--a small, every-day miracle--to ease their burden and give them a glimmer of hope.
After that ending, I knew I needed to watch "Midnight Clear" every year at Christmas time. It cuts to the core of how truly difficult life can be for each of us, and offers an illustration of what "Peace on earth, good will to men" really means. Even after the movie has its hopeful conclusion, you know that these people will still have many of their same problems when they wake up tomorrow morning. They'll continue to struggle with loneliness, frustrations, and sadness. But you also know that each disappointing day has the potential to have a moment of hope, an encounter with a friendly human, to lighten the load.
If you want to watch this movie I suggest you do so without reading much more about it. Don't even read the DVD cover or the Netflix description. Just make sure you find "Midnight Clear" with Stephen Baldwin, and not something else because there's another movie called "A Midnight Clear" and that's not the right one. And you may not want to watch it with young kids. This is not a traditional feel-good movie, and the depressing beginning may be too much for some people to take. I watched it one year with some of our older kids, and they weren't even sure they liked it. But maybe they'll give it another try sometime. . . . We bought the DVD this year, so let me know if you want to borrow it.
Share Your Story
Have you seen this movie? If so, how did it affect you (without giving away too much of the story to those who haven't seen it yet)? What movies do you watch each year to help you focus on the meaning of Christmas?
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