Calle's film with a Christmassy moral

Calle prefaces his stop-motion film by remarking that Christmas is not just a time for laughter and joy, but also a time when many feel alone.

His film is titled ‘Skeive Atle og de magiske snømennene ('Crooked Atle and the Magical Snowman').’ It is set against a white backdrop, with snow on the ground, snowmen, and trees scattered about.

The plot consists of a bunch of village children happily tobogganing, before Atle - the new boy in the village - approaches. He is not a regular human figure like the rest of the cast, but instead a yellow figure with a significant forward lean.

Atle asks to join the sledding, but the rest of the children make fun of him for the shape of his body. One kid lets him try to use their sled, but he crashes into a tree. Atle lies unconscious until night, when the snowmen in the background come alive and help him. They feel pity for him, and ‘snow’ him, saying that he will wake up in the morning with a magical gift.

The bullying children return the next day to find Atle in the snowbank, and he discovers that he has been given the gift of metal skis. He uses the skis to slice through all the other children, screaming at them for making fun of his crooked body, and leaving the snow stained with their blood.

The snowmen then come forward to tell the moral of the story: bullying isn’t good, and can have consequences.

Atle is impressed by the length and level of detail in Calle’s film, calling it the best work so far. He ultimately awards Calle the full five points.

(Written by Nic Greyson and edited by Karl Craven)

(Illustrations collected by Nic Greyson and adjusted by David Fuller)