Former U.S. senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, while still considering another run for the White House, has been spending a great deal of his time not on politics but on movies. As the CEO of the family/faith-oriented movie studio, EchoLight, Santorum is on a mission to help re-take popular culture from the clutches of leftists.
EchoLight’s first release with Santorum as CEO, The Christmas Candle, opens nationwide at select theaters tomorrow, November 22. The movie tells of an English town, at the turn of the 20th century, that has a tradition of miracles happening at Christmas every 25 years, based on the lighting of one particular candle — and what happens when a new Anglican minister comes to town just in time for year 25.
Now I’m not the best reviewer of “period pieces” — please, keep me away from Downton Abbey! — which tend to seem stilted to me no matter how warm the actual story. But I can say that The Christmas Candle, a sneak preview of which I watched this week, is an engaging tale with a cast sure to attract attention. One of the cast-members, in her first-ever movie role, is the angelic Susan Boyle, who gained international attention in 2009 singing on the show Britain’s Got Talent. And the female lead, a very timely casting decision indeed, is the exquisite Samantha Barks, fresh off her wondrous film debut as Éponine in last year’s Les Miserables. Especially as we approach the Christmas season, those who want an uplifting movie with excellent production value should find where The Christmas Candle is playing and check it out.