<P>An intriguing family saga, which retains interest right to the end.</P>

An intriguing family saga, which retains interest right to the end.

Christmas Oratorio is a Swedish film which director Kjell-Ake Andersson has adapted from what was obviously a lengthy novel. The action spans three generations and unfolds in a long flashback as an orchestra conductor discovers, on his mother`s death, that information about his father, in New Zealand, had been withheld from him. The father`s story then unfolds from the time he was a child and his beautiful, vibrant mother was killed in a tragic accident, an accident that changed his life and that of his father for ever... Much of Christmas Oratorio fascinates; the characters are certainly interesting, even if their motivations are at times puzzling. But director Andersson has given what could have been splendidly melodramatic material a rather dry texture; and, as a result, the emotions aren`t engaged as much as they might have been. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing family saga, which retains interest right to the end, and the New Zealand sequences are extremely fine.