Christmas In Canaan

Feel Good Christmas Movie
What I Can Tell You: Christmas in Canaan is a beautiful story of acceptance, bravery and friendship. I loved it! I must have cried three times which is to be expected because I am a great big sap. Billy Ray is perfect in the role of Daniel, "the dad". I was truly touched with his attempts to give his family gifts from the heart for the holidays. While the movie covers a difficult subject, the beginning of the civil rights movement and prejudice, you will walk away seeing the subtle ways the film establishes that we are all the same underneath the color of our skin.

The friendship of the boys is my favorite part of the movie although I feel some of the lesson will be lost on younger children. My children have no idea that there is a difference or that at a time, people were treated differently. They were confused as to why people would try to burn down a building, or dislike people. They have no idea what bigotry is and some of words used by the two boys on the school bus...

COMBINES CHRISTMAS, TEXAS, FAMILY, AND HOPE
Definitely a different Christmas movie. Billy Ray Cyrus can act and sing well. He performs and wrote "We'll Get By Somehow" the theme song for "Christmas in Canaan" in which he plays the widower dad, Daniel Burton. His oldest, DJ (young: Zak Ludwig; teen: Jacob Blair) is played well by both actors. DJ makes friends with a black boy Rodney (youth: Jaishon Fisher; older: Matt Ward) after saving a pup shot with a gun. At that point the story jumps ahead 7 years. Both the Burton family and the black, Freeman family are poor, living in Canaan, TX, in the 1960, complete with Afro-hair, and bell bottoms.

There is a combined plot/theme of racism and overcoming bigotry, the black vote, and family in this Texas Western which includes beater pick-ups, not horses. Only one gun shot but several heart-touching scenes. A Black Vote meeting ends in tragedy. The children lead the way to promise and HOPE in Canaan, TX. One line says; "Once your family, you always got a place", and this DVD's...

SUPER!! FAMILY movie! Love, Sticking together- PERFECT!!
We watched this movie the same day we received it in the mail... and that was only yesterday... kids have watched it three times already.
What a fantastic family movie! We have a large family and we've been through so many hard times. Where there is family, you have a home... that's the message and this movie is beautifully done! Billy Ray plays as fantastic roll as the father. I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this movie. It made me laugh, cry... and cry some more. So touching and what I strive to live as well as teach my children. Great movie for all ages... I'm 43... and the kids in the house are ages 20 to 8 years old... we all loved it!

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