A Storm for Christmas is set mainly in the Oslo airport during a storm that grounds all the flights. It’s one of the best holiday offerings I’ve seen in a long time. The cast is diverse, there’s a polyglot mix of languages and characters, and a story long on love and connection.
A Storm for Christmas manages to hold several themes aloft at once. There are all kinds of love (even love for a dog) mixed in with the drama. The characters do have names, but they are also archetypes and I’m going to discuss a few of them in that way.
There are some famous people in the airport. The pianist (Dennis Storhøi) is a burned out concert pianist who just wants to be able to smoke inside the building. There’s a the pop star (Ida Elise Broch). She has mental problems and treats the people around her like servants.
There’s a mother (Ariadna Cabrol) trying to get her son to New York for surgery. There’s a young woman (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) who wants to find her long lost dad in Norway. There’s a romantic dreamer (Hanna Ardéhn) with a well developed fantasy about what will happen to her in Paris.
Some of the passengers leave the airport and seek other ways to get where they are going. One such is the rich bitch (Alexandra Rapaport) who thinks her money makes her more important than anyone else.
All the people who work at the airport are part of the story as well. The priest (Maibritt Saerens) spreads herself thin trying to help everyone. The bartender (Jon Øigarden) is dealing with some kind of secret.
The baggage handler (Valter Skarsgård) get stuck with a dog that he soon comes to realize might be his best relationship ever. The pilot (Ravdeep Singh Bajwa) thinks travel is boring and airports are ugly. Not a romantic bone in his body.
Santa (Ibrahim Faal) can’t believe what kids ask for these days. Items that would be a year’s salary for him. There are more characters – feuding parents, heartbroken widowers, lost souls, unappreciated songwriters. It’s a big cast.
In the 24 hours all these folks are stuck together on Christmas Eve you’d expect some magic to happen and it does. It isn’t all happy, but it’s all heartwarming and charming. It adds up to a lovely holiday series that I could easily watch every year for many years to come. A new favorite.
This six episode delight is streaming on Netflix. Perhaps you’ll enjoy it as part of your holiday festivities.
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