• Man with a mission: R.H. Thomson as Samuel Lount Samuel Lount Rebel with a cause Myth, identity and politics of Canadian film

a date in which figures such as Louis interesting historical feature ever and action) is, of course, a religious by Eric Green Riel rose up against the oppreSSive produced in Canada about Ontario act, and it is significant that Samuel character of central Canadian col­ was done by this particular produc­ Lount was a devoted member of a onialism, it might well also be er-director duo. They consciously sect called the Children of Peace. Talking to Samuel Lount producer celebrated for an unusual event: the espouse New Age values and incor­ The question of not merely iden­ Elvira Lount and director Laurence completion of Samuel Lount, which, porated them into the creative direc­ tifying evil, but acting against it, is Keane, one becomes rapidly aware in a remarkable way, evokes a range tion and the management of the at the heart of the film. While our of a critical connection between the of issues related to possession and production. And they are conscious generation is dubious about the values of the filmmakers and the power, and the choices of people of being western Canadians. concept of evil, the evils that values that drove Samuel Lowa to who find themselves working for the What makes this new feature film threaten the planet in a nuclear age become an activist and participate new series of compacts that com­ evocative is that the conflicts in are being responded to in ways that ill one of the more in teresting upris­ mand our major institutions even Samuel Lount's life are not dissimi­ may be reawakening a sense of the ings in Canadian history. now. lar from conflicts faCing us today. linkages between New Age and Old While 1985 has been celebrated as It is doubly ironic that the most Reaching for universality (in vision Age value systems.

121Cinema Canada - October 1985 • • hen new feature film producers and directors appear on the scene Win Canada, you can be sure that the story of their emergence carries with it two dramas. One of those dramas has to do with the story to be put onto the screen. The other has to do with the struggle to achieve recognition from the institu­ PROP. tions which have been established for JOHN t10NTG0l1ER~ AND BEERS film promotion, and to get adequate n TO SELL WINE.5 financial and human resources to LICENC E v deliver a professional film. . Elvira Lount (producer) and Laur­ ence Keane (director) say that the choice of a story is the first and ulti­ mately most important part of the range of decision-making which lies at the heart of filmmaking. "The fact that we ·chose the Lount story had nothing to do with the fact that he was Elvira's distant ancestor," says Keane. "I was and am convinced that there are problems with feature dramas in Canada: we have no mythology which drives us forward, which is progr:essive in the good sense. That kind of mythol­ ogy requires a heroic sensibility. "We have to recognize that the act of creating identity - - it is as true of the filmmaker as it is of the citizen of a nation -- requires a mythology. It may require an act of rebellion. "Lount's choice of participating in the Rebellion of the 1830's had that central mythic power. Identity is always about choices." Samuel Lount is Elvira Lount's and Laurence Keane's first major feature. Its S 1.7 million budget is modest by inter­ national standards. - "When I first met Elvira and we began discussing potential projects, I was immediately attracted to the s[Ory", says Keane. "Dut at that time I knew I needed a film that was 'do-able'. "Getting S10 million to make another kind of film might take five years and might never come about. I knew I wanted to make Samuel Lount some day, and when the financing became available, I realized it was a good choice for a first film . "Lou nt's values were ours. The story speaks to modern audiences. And it is the kind of film which, because it is his­ torical, was more appealing to funding d roducer Elvira lount agencies." • Samuel Lount director laurence Keane an p Keane believes the Canadian film­ making 'system' has a kind of roulette at the middle of its character. Younger humour) as a "new wave horror ethnic event... the time it takes to get a film carefully pre-conceived and pre-imag­ directors are given one or two oppor­ musical science fiction comedy." Vari­ from idea to fact can occupy a major ined the event is. And the other realiza­ tunities to demonstrate achievement. If .ety described it as a "crisp and highly part of a lifetime, and especially of a tion we came to quickly is that every­ they fail to deliver quickly, regardless of amusing farce." The film has developed career. thing takes at least twice as long as you how limited and limiting production a small cult following in North America "If you make poor choices more than imagine it will," says Lount. opportunities are with Canada, they will and England. a few times, you won't have a career," Keane is also convinced there is no probably never get serious chances at "Defore you ask the question - no, it Lount says. She points out the conse­ 'apolitical' human condition. His sense making feature film again. really didn't prepare me for Samuel quences of her ancestor's choices - he of the values in the Samuel Lount story Keane sees the filmmaker as being up Lount. Except in a technical way. Let's was hanged. One thinks of several relates to that awareness. Decause against a pattern of choices which force just say the difference between the two promising young Canadian directors neither the filmmaker or political trade-offs. "Samuel Lount lost some films suggests I'm flexible," Keane says. who made choices, gloried in the blaze activist - even the reluctant ones such things because of this surrounding real­ The choice of Samuel Lount was, he of media typically accorded these as Lount - can escape choice, and ity, but it also gained things because of says, both a critical career choice and it events, and then promptly died. because they have restricted control, our enthusiasm and because we care also reflected his own sense of dramatic For Keane, "Whether or not one has a politiC is a constant. deeply about the integrity of the story value. "With Elvira and the writer, Phil premeditated sense of career develop­ "I find that when I respond to a story itself." Savath, there was a common issue, the ment, or merely responds to a theme" it is because it speaks to my condition, Defore starting work on Samuel interest in laying a foundation for future can amount to the same thing. to my time. When that happens I know Lount, Keane had produced and co­ dramatic structures. That may sound The major realization once funds the dramatic values are there." scripted a very low-budget feature too grand a scheme, but we really did become available, Lount explains, is that The cultural matrix called Big Meat Eater. He describes the think like that." you suddenly are in the driver's seat. Keane and Lount both believe the ulti­ 1982 film (not without some obvious The fact of control encompasses every mate issue is one of authenticity. Some Time, cash and patience microscopic detail and every macros­ Eric Green is a Vancouver writer and producers and directors pick stories Doth Keane and Lount believe that the copic decision and choice. ACTRA-award winning playwright. because they believe they are market­ hard question of choices gets too little "There are so many elements you able; they appear less than interested in attention in filmmaking. From vision to can't control up-front. No matter how the value of the story.

October 1985 - Cinema Canadal13 • • They agree that every cultural 'prod­ uct' enters a marketplace, w)1ere too many young filmmakers think demand is infinitely elastic. But that isn't the case. Choosing a story is only the beginning. The prelude to script-development reflected the same awareness of a rich­ ness of material, hence conflicts and political choices about what to em­ phasize, what to let remain as a diminished chord in the fIlm 's dramatic form. Says Keane: "Elvira's brother had been collecting material on this story for years. We began systematically looting the history books and archives for additional mate­ rial. We looked at everything, and began writing. "I suppose professional politicians face the same issue. There is a fantastic array of material; which fa cts, which trends are meaningful? Which events most clearly speak about the central, most vital issues? "Anyone who has tried to wrest a dramatic feature from historical mate­ rial recognizes the basic issue. The true historical time frame is different than the dratnatic line." Keane says there was pain in throw ing out remarkable material, including scenes in which Samuel Lount was marched back to Toronto in bare feet. There were a series of petitions by Ira ther surpnsmg people (thirry lthousand of them) trying to save him. c lH is wife wrote a historically fascinating o en series of passionate letters to authorities E o appealing for clemency. Even native t: Indians petitioned the Compact OJ .£ authorities for clemency. U "Samuel Lount was a remarkable and ~ '5 authentic Christian. He was so kind and OJ c generous - he carted grain on his back OJ'" to farmers and Indians starving in winter :.:: - that squaring that character with the • one who participated in an active re­ -0 OJ~ bellion became a real challenge," Keane I'" .!!! -0> says. c00 '" Character, in this case, really was fate. CD-o . ~ (ij u c The power of the Family Compact rul­ c 0 ing Canada a half-century before Con­ "'0 u:~ . ~ . CO fed eration refle cted the inevitable con­ Cf).r: necti on berween the self-interest of a If) U U ~ few and the power of the gun. -E,en'" ~ C­ .- 0 Whose story? OJ.r: c If) One of the problems Lount and Keane, ~al :,.:-0 w ith writer Savath and others, faced was .- ~ ~ ­ the fac t that our history books still O~ ~~ refl ect the problem of validation. Who .r: • cUi provides the original stories? Who .- OJ c~ describes someone for all time as OJ(!) E 3: 'rebe)'? o OJ E ~ Lount and Keane found that the <{~ stories available were validated by the .~ people who won, the Compact. Hence both the genuine story - received by the Lount family through legend and original sources - and the need to understand how history really works needed to be sorted out. \Vhat has been created should interest professional his­ torians, and, hopefully, provoke some questions about why our Riels and Lount are not honoured in the same way the American revolutionaries were. "It suited our values as producers that the process was collaborative. We learn­ ed by what we were doing", Lount says. Keane adds, "Even though the story had triggered a very powerful creative response, we were as conditioned to the received, conventional w isdom ... to get at the dramatic values we had to revise our own vision first. " 14/Cinema Canada - October 1985 , • N A I o N A L c I N E M A • But they admit they could not have approached the subject tabula rasa, with no preconceptions. "We had no intention of doing that. This is a highly .J _ personal story about personal choices. I He believed in what he did; we believed in it. I suppose, if I happen to turn reac­ tionary in the future, I might see Sir Francis Bond Head as the hero," Keane says. The simple truth about Canadian his­ tory, they say, is that little has really changed. A tiny percentage of wealthy Canadians own 85 percent of the coun­ try's assets. In that sense, the Family Compact is still operative and still val­ idating a particular view of history. "That's what we mean by the issue of mythology in Canada and the 'heroic sensibility' we don't have. We kept com­ ing hack time and again to the image of the forge. In those days the forge was more than a technology. It was a symhol of transformations. "Samuel Lount's wife Elizaheth in one of her letters talks about the issue of freedom. The price we pay for freedom is eternal vigilance. She said invididuals could be destroyed but not what they val ued." The mere fact that a maj or feature film will now elevate the story of this obscure Canadian figure says something about the resiliency of the idea in his­ . 5 el Lount at King's Landing, N.B. tory. • On location on emu Elvira Lount, who grew up and went "If people are focused on common to school in Ontario, says Ontario his­ shortcut the process of choosing," requires that the director build a com­ values, it is obviously easier to get at tory is a motherlode of stories of equal Keane says. pletely believable universe within the what you set out to do in the first place," merit or better. She finds it curious that Samuel Lount was filmed at King's film. Everything within that universe has Keane says. Ontario, with all its resources, has not Landing Historical Settlement, in Fre­ to fit , must reflect the integrity of the But even if half the people involved responded by evoking its own history in dericton, New Brunswick. Some shoot­ story. are on the same wavelength, he says, feature mms. ing was done at the military compound "It isn't like making a film that is con­ you have a chance of getting what you there. Other locations included Sharon temporary, which can be set in a famil­ originally wanted. The creative chaos in . Temple (the actual temple built by the iar, existing environment. You have to Creative values this philosophy of direction - creating Children of Peace) at Holland Landing, go back and reconstruct to serve the fic­ Keane and Lount are acutely aware of the hlueprint but letting the players Dundurn Castle and Queenston. tion in the heart of the film ." the paradox of film production and involved shape the film - isn't necessar­ Another western Canadian film, Phil Many of the actors involved in direction. They say that most people ily a negative. "What you create will Borsos' The Grey Fox, was shot with that Samuel Lount were associated with don't appreciate the complexity of the always he removed from the original same attention to the visual qualities. Theatre Passe Muraille, which made it management challenges within film ­ vision, but it shouldn't suffer for that." Keane says the critical comment on easier for them to quickly and organi­ making. Keane explains that Canadian budgets Grey Fox's visual qualities has set a stan­ cally involve themselves in Samuel "We were aware - and are more typically mean inadequate rehearsal dard that other filmmakers will have to Lount's story. intensely aware today - that after the time (Samuel Lount's prinCipal actors pay attention to. Interestingly, writer Phil Sa"ath shoot is over, and before it hegan, there rehearsed main scenes for three days), "Once again, the visual elements was worked for several seasons witl1 the is the vacuum in which you are in total the need to be ahle to change call times a very serious challenge from the point Caravan Theatre in British Columbia. control. In the process of shooting you to adjust to weather and other cir­ of view of choices. l3ecause we view this This unique group travels in the sum­ operate in flux. cumstances, and to attempt to get peak as a film in which a very distinct 'person' mer season through B.C.'s Interior "It's all a question of pushing performances without extended actor­ makes a very clear choice, we tried to towns and cities in horse-drawn wag­ everyone to a limit and then catching it, director discussion on set. heighten the clarity of the human ele­ ons, playing in outdoor settings. freeZing it," Keane says. ments and soften the locations," Keane "We even had Phil do some horse­ Asked if he operate with a sense of Visual quality says. back stunt riding," Keane says. what would happen if he failed, Keane The visual qualities of Samuel Lount are Keane describes the impact by refer­ said Canada is unusual among filmmak­ remarked upon by people who have ring to a value of SimpliCity, which he ing countries in that the rewards for seen the film , both in fine-cut form and says probably comes from his own success are limited, but "you don't get in the rushes. appreciation for Vermeer. He visited a Burden of conscientiousness crushed that badly if you fail. At least, Although Canadian mm commentary wide range of Canadian galleries seeking Elvira Lount says her ancestor has not the first time." has not explored the visual aesthetics of imagery associated with Canada in the Lount and Keane attempted to draw Canadian films intensively (perhaps interested her as far back as she can 1830's. Resources from this period of recollect. together people in the production who because attention has been paid to the Canadian history include many etchings "This whole experience for me has responded to the values they identified role of dramatic form and narrati ve over done at the time of the Rebellion. been even more of a curious circle. It's in Samuel Lount's story. They looked for strictly visual elements), a new genera­ "Marc Champion absorbed all this and almost like living a kind of tautology. a sense of commitment and generally tion of filmmakers here (and elsewhere) I believe that he has captured the qual­ "My values were formed with an found people who knew everyone are consciously exploring the contribu­ ity we were seeking," says Keane. awareness of Samuel Lount. l3y being would benefit if they gave "150 per tion it makes to the whole mm. Awareness included the chOice of part of this mm, it's much like coming cent." "We were very deliberate in this area. colours. Even the Sharon Temple's col­ full circle ... I'm putting the values I see "Even if you have a production crew Long before we even discussed the vis­ ors were carried over into the photo­ in that story back out there for others to and cast with 'sympathetic vision' there ual qualities with Marc Champion and graphy, costumes and sets. Keane says know about and appreciate." is a major problem: how do you focus Kim Steer (respectively Director of he doesn't believe this kind of attention 130th Keane and Lount feel that artis­ on what you started out to do? How do Photography and Art Director), we to the visual elements is effete or super­ tic choices are personal choices. Like a you get everyone to be involved in mak­ were going to galleries and museums fluous. "There is a tendency to believe growing number of others within the ing the same mm?," asks Lount. everywhere. I collected postcard repro­ everything in history was grey and drab. film- and related industries in Canada "Most films fail because people are ductions of images which capture some­ Perhaps we are captivated by black-and­ they know there is a burden in having making different films ." thing I was looking for. white or sepia photographs. I'm sure the ~ Keane points out that every novice "When I did have the critical discus­ settings were as colourful as they are sense of the way things should be. politician - and each new government - sions with Marc and Kim, and others today," Keane says. Although they didn't mention it, that face the same difficulty. who contributed, it made it easier to Keane says his view of directing might serve as an explanation for Samuel Lount's choice as well.

October 1985 - Cinema Canadal15