Xmas Without China (2013/Bullfrog/Icarus DVD)

Picture: B Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: B

Xmas Without China seems like an odd title. Why would China not have Christmas, but it is referring to something else. This new documentary from Tom Xia and Alicia Dwyer shows the U.S. and China trade deficit and how America relies heavily on foreign goods, then presenting the challenge to a family to make their Christmas happen without using, having, or gifting anything with that common label, "Made in China."

There are many families that do not celebrate Christmas, but for those that do many will tell you that pretty much everything comes from China, well most of the inexpensive things anyways. For example, in this documentary, we see this family, faced with this new challenge, having to buy Christmas tree lights, but they cannot just buy your run-of-the-mill festive lights, they have to go purchase Mexican Christmas tree lights that cost way more than a $10-$20 box. The Mexican Christmas tree lights are around $166.

The movie itself is pretty entertaining watching this family try and scurry around during the holiday season, but it also shows two different families, one Chinese-Americans and the other from California their whole lives.

It dives into many cultural differences and really shows how difficult the holidays here would be without foreign goods. The title Xmas Without China is spot on and is appropriate once you know the film and its message.

Xmas Without China is presented in standard definition in widescreen 1.78 X 1 on DVD. The documentary runs for approximately 63 minutes and has a decent sounding, lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mix.

- Jordan Whiteko