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sertion of individualism in a totalitarian Perry Mark Stratychuk's context is presented as a minor but por. tentous victory: while the Benefactor remains in firm control at film's end Savannah (he's still narrating, after all), he inter­ prets even this small, personal gesture of Electric revolt as a potentially contagious one: with a worldweary (and decidedly human) sigh, he acknowledges that he's presided over the beginning of his own demise. There will be more renegades. here's never been much room ( or Canadian as this measured, hesitant need) in Canadian culture for the conclusion may be (this has never been Tconception of alternative worlds. a nation comfortable with the idea of re­ Chiefly . a nation of naturalists and volt - an American film would have re­ documentarists, Canadians are more lished the spectacle of The Benefactor'S likely to put their arts in the service of final defeat), it is not the only aspect of what is than to allow them to ponder Savannah Electric that surrenders a what might be. As such, fantasy and sci­ certain cultural particularity. Alternat­ ence fiction are relatively anomalous ing constantly between confined, indus­ genres in Canadian fiction and filmmak­ trial settings or expansive, establishing ing (David Cronenberg comprising a long shots (highlighted by Stratychuk's classically rule-proving exception), and brilliant convincing miniature models), have not developed even the renegade the film seems actually more interested literary status they enjoy in countries in documenting oppression than revolt like Britain, Japan, the U.S.S.R. and the against it. Although the opening chase United States. sequence (in which the bounty hunter Interestingly, those few examples of tracks a renegade to an abandoned farm- . Canadian science fiction that do exist • Documenting alienation in science fiction Savannah house) is an exquisitely rendered (if a offer ironic testimony as to why the tad overlong), bargain basement hom­ genre just doesn't come naturally to tion techniques that -would become in­ when men labour under machine rule age to Sergio Leone, it's actually the doc­ corporeally-centred Canucks. If this fine stnIment:iI to the realization of films like on the production of life-sustaining umentation of drudgery which is Savan­ fictional hair can be split, there appear 2001 : A Space Odyssey and Star Wars, chemicals, Savannah Electric can be nah Electric's strongest suit. to be two identifiable strands of Cana­ ventured to the heavens only to find even more precisely situated in terms of Stratychuk's rendering of The Be­ dian SF: first there are the inevitable, cosmic vindication of our national in­ SF sub-genres. The story of one drone's nefactor's steam-choked chemical plant, commercially-generated products of feriority complex_ Consider Peter Mor­ rebellion against the omnipotent rule of with its hissing valves, droidlike Drones imitation - those films, (such as Def­ ris's description in The Film Compan­ a computer called The Benefactor and omnipresent thugs, is easily the con-4 or The Last Chase, or a 1V series ion: " ... this literally awe-inspiring film (who, significantly enough, is also the film's most convincingly concep­ like Starlost), which by their very awk­ makes extraordinary use of animation to film's narrator), Stratychuk's film is tualized element. Reminiscent of David wardness - and commercial failure, de­ present an image of the universe and hu­ firmly of the assertion-of-individual-will Lynch's epochal conflations in Dune, monstrate the genre's (ahem) alien manity's insignificance in the face ofit. " type. In this popular, usually cautionary Stratychuk's desert-bound chemical fac­ status in terms of predominant Canadian (pp. 304-4) No wonder Canadians have strain of speculative literature and film, tory is like a 19th century sweatshop fictional tendencies. avoided the potential for interplanetary an individual (or group of individuals) chugging away in a bleak, distant future. Then there are those films, like frontierism offered by speculative fic­ rises up against a confortnist, totalitarian And while the presentation of character Cronenberg's and Perry Mark Straty­ tional forms : why travel to other planets regime. Within generic parameters, that would barely qualify as minimal (no chuk's Savannah Electric, which for proof of our ultimate puniness?). regime can be represented by people doubt due to the dramatically debilitat­ mobilize the generic conventions of SF like Cronenberg, though with radi­ (the crypto-fascist regimes of 1984, ing budgetary necessity of using post­ to cast some perennial and deepseated cally different formal means and in­ Things to Come and Metropolis), synched sound), the reasons for revolt Canadian cultural concerns in a new terests, Winnipeg's Perry Mark Straty­ aliens (the Star Wars trilogy, Waro/the are never less than obvious: drone life is light. If the dominant strains of Canadian chuk has found in certain SF conven­ Worlds, the V 1V series), machines vividly presented as a cycle of exhaust­ cultural practice have been thematically tions a profoundly versatile medium for (though usually, as in Westworld, Col­ ing labour and electronically-induced (indeed obsessively) drawn to a condi­ the representation of certain dyed-in­ ossus: The Forbin Project or 2001 : A narcosis, so that while our revolutionary tion of profound alienation - be it indi­ the-flannel Canadian concerns. A post­ Space Odyssey it's machines doing the hero coheres as a psychological pre­ vidual, social, psychological, political or apocalyptic survival fable ( d la A Boy revolting), or any number of assorted sence, his function as a moral and politi­ sexual - this kind of film permits the ex­ and His Dog, Defcon-4, Le Dernier Significant Others (Planet of the Apes cal force is perfectly clear. Besides, the pression of this alienation to shift from combat, Planet of the Apes, Road and its successors). In the political revolt itself seems of less interest to the the level of the literal (or at least Warrior and Stalker, to name a select terms these films set, the greatest threat film than the documentation of the con­ naturalistic) to the metaphOric. Com­ few), Stratychuk's film occupies a SF faced by contemporary SOCiety is the ditions that necessitate it. If there's any mercially viable and internationally sub-genre that usually offers two threat to individualism and free will, and aspect of ~vannah Electric that qual­ celebrated as they are, the thematic con­ metaphoriC alternatives : the post: the films present a dramatic assertion of ifies it as Canuck SF, this is it: not only is cerns of the films of Cronenberg, with apocalyptic world as an opportunity for individual free will in a world which has it too grounded in political practicality their constant and obsessive return to the reconstruction of a better SOCiety suppressed it. So does Savannah Elec­ to indulge cathartic fantasies of full­ the metaphoric site of the mind's sep­ from scratch, or the deterministic pre­ 'tric: inspired by a fellow 'Drone' who scale revolt and social upheaval, it has a aration from the body, couldn't be more sentation of that world as a logical but has lost his life in an attempt to escape documentarist's fascination with the Canadian. In the generic confines of sci­ extreme projection of contemporary so­ the computer's control, another drone minutiae of social and behavioural pro­ ence fiction and horror, Cronenberg has cial ills onto a future canvas. Following 'goes renegade' and is pursued into the cess: strange as it seems, it qualifies as found as inexhaustably fertile cinematic the latter route, the decidedly Canadian desert by a human bounty hunter dis­ sort of SF verite_ discourse for the expression of the same, Savannah Electric conjures a future patched by the none-too-happy Be­ But realistically, it is precisely this re­ kind of (if slightly more extreme) alien- world where certain negative national nefactor. fusal to indulge the more kinetic con­ . ation that has haunted practically the characteristics have run rather amok. In In these human rebellion SF films, the ventions of SF that will probably ensure entire history of postwar Canadian fea­ fascinating ways, it suggests the future - degree of faith in free will as a revolutio­ low visibility for Savannah Electric. ture filmmaking. oppressive and industrial - as Don nary force is usually expressed in the Lean on plot and psychology, paced (Not that this is without precedent. Shebib might once have imagined it. outcome of the revolt itself: in 1984, the with a Tarkovskian fidelity to.ennui and Significally enough, one of the most Made for a miniscule $30,000, and set hero's poetic insurrection is quashed indeciSion, Stratychuk's film is both un­ highly-awarded Canadian films ever, the in an indeterminate future of equal like so much fudge, in the Star Wars tril­ likely to please mainstream SF zealots 1960 'speculative documentary' Uni­ economic and ecological blight (with ogy the evil regime is triumphantly (who will find it deadly, short-oo-FX verse, which introduced model anima- prairie dunes evoking global drought), dumped. In Savannah Electric the as- bore), and unlikely to reach those artier ./Cinema Canada - February 1988 • F I L M R E v I E w 5 •

types most likely to applaud its ambiti­ dow by way of Blow-Up and The Con­ from the sparse audience I saw the frlm ous, homemade modernism. And versation. It borrows rather too much with. Gruber's other relationship, with Stavros C. Stravides' frankly, it is too long. Given the slight from the latter, but shows little of the Adele (Lolita David), the aspiring exotic and ultimately vague nature of Savan­ brilliance of Hitchcock, Antonioni or dancer, is handled better, but fails to nah Electric's political campaign (the Coppola. convince, although their big scene to­ God Rides assertion of individual will making for Penfield Gruber (Harvey Keitel) was gether, huddling in a car while a gun­ pretty thin manifesto material), not once a leading behavioral scientist and fight takes place some 50 feet away, is a Harley even Stratychuk's formidable formal tal­ an expert in surveillance techniques. the one place where the noir atmos­ ents justify the film's SO-odd minute Then his wife Janine killed herself, and phere is successfully achieved. running time. (It would have made one he dropped out. Now he owns a run­ Michael Rudder's portrayal of the amazing short). down motel on the Toronto lakeshore. wired Freelong is the only really lively At this moment, Savannah Electric is His clients consist of aspiring exotic character in the film, with his continu­ most richly regarded as a fascinating dancers, deadbeat musicians, Elvis Pre­ ing rap about the need for more "ordi­ tavros C. Stavrides's excellent inde­ footnote to the search for cultural sley impersonators and would-be nance", bizarre non sequiturs ( "they're pendent documentary, God Rides a specificity that has faced English-Cana­ gigolos. Then, a pair of hoods knock on used to gun control in this country"), SHarley (launched at Montreal's dian filmmakers since foreign films first his door. and delight in shootouts. These are shot World Film Festival), rolls us into a found a home on our domestic screens. Peters (Sam Malkin) wants Gruber to in cliched Peckinpah slow motion - world of ex-motorcycle outlaws who, by Principally and most successfully, it is a spy on a recent arrival at the motel, Will­ one's main reaction to this is to observe some miracle, met with God on the high­ generic exercise which rather auda­ iam Freelong (Michael Rudder). To how nicely Dwayne McLean 's stunt way of the damned - and were trans­ ciously borrows a more or less alien cul­ convince Gruber, Peters' muscleman, team takes its falls. What can one say, formed by the encounter. The bikers in tural form - and scales it to suit the Collinson (Kenneth McGregor), though, about the would-be Great Cana­ the film believe they have been saved, domestic sensibility. For now, that is, it threatens to smash·his face and torch the dian Gangster, whose greatest ambition and they embrace their saviour. is of primary interest in terms of its posi­ motel. Gruber is already suspicious of is to throw a brick off the Eiffel Tower? However the people who appear in tion within the ongoing project of de­ Freelong, and reluctantly agrees. If Blindside fails, it is clearly because God Rides a Harley don't come across veloping indigenously Canadian forms While planting listening devices in Paul Lynch does not manage the busy as intolerably smug, self-congratulatory of popular culture. In the future, I hope the room next to Freelong's, Gruber plots into a coherent whole; at one convertoids. it will be that and something more. I hears something from the apartment on point Gruber has to write the connect­ These people are not country Singers hope it will be remembered as the first the other side, which he also decides to ing threads down, so as to make sense. whose careers went on the skids, or feature made by an extraordinary intelli­ bug. He soon discovers a connection Later, Gruber visits a former colleague failed fast-food entrepreneurs, taken to gent and innovative Canadian film­ between Gilchrist (Durango Coy), his who is conducting a sleep study on a pa­ hitting the bottle. The bikers have been maker. girlfriend Julie (Lori Hallier), and the tient that looks remarkably like torture. around. They have seen much dirt - in shipment of heroin Freelong and his The scene is a piece of scientific black the world, in other people, in them­ Geoff Pevere • gang ripped-off Peters' boss, Hawk. humor worthy of Cronenberg; it is un­ selves. Their experience of - and admis­ By this point the audience should be nerving and it has energy. It also has lit­ sion to - real heavy-duty sinfulness iron­ SAVANNAH ELECTRIC p.l d.1 d . o. p .l thoroughly involved with the film, but tle to do with the rest of Blindside. ically gives them a certain moral author­ ed. Perry Mark Stratychuk or/g. m. compo and perf. Blindside remains curiously remote in ity. They seem to have a right to talk by Tom Paterson add. m. Perry Stratychuk rerec. about their salvation, because they lived Chris McPherson ward. Catherine Stratychuk mattes tone. Lynch seems to be unsure of how J. Paul Costabile • and miniatures Destine' Films animated titles and to handle his main character; unlike the for years on the edge of helL post prod. fx. Audience West pyrotechnics Shawn undone voyeurs played by James BUNDSIDE d. Paul Lynch p. Peter Simpson For instance, one of the bikers de­ Wilson. Dave Peter. Steve Hegyi video fx Keith Stewart, David Hemmings or Gene co-po Ray Sager assoc. p. llana Frank asst. d. David scribes a flaming night when an enemy McKenzie. Visual Marketing Systems prod. asst. Peter Robertson (1st ). Sam Mahony ( 2nd), Martha Bean McDonald. Donald Stratychuk m . rec. Chris McPher· Hackman, Gruber is just not interesting (3rd) prod. man. Robert Wertheimer prod. co-ord pulled a knife, lurched toward him, and son. Wayne Finucan Productions credits Steven as a person. Fran Solomon asst. to p. Jane Schmelzer SC. Richard stabbed him in the groin. The biker Rosenberg lab services Mid·Can Labs Inc. neg. cut­ Harvey Keitel has always been at his Beanie sc. sup. Diane Parsons d . O. p . Rene Ohashi didn't feel anything. He stood up, and ting Dawna Dobbs J.p. Dean Beckman. Jack Urbanski. focus puller John Hobson 2nd asst. cam. David Par· ~ Peter McDonald. Donald Stratychuk. Jack Salzberg. best as an actor when called upon to kins cam. trainee Cudah Andarawewa stills Ben Mark like a super-maniac in a slasher movie, Dave Hologrosky, Armand Baptist, Christopher play men who desperately try to control Holzberg, Robert McEwan sup ed. Nick Rotundo ed. he kept going, loaded with energy, ready Sigurdson, Ann Hodges. The Producer wishes to their natural propensity to violence, but Stephen Lawrence asst ed. Alastair Gray app. ed. to kill his assailant. His 24-hour-a-day thank: The National Film Board ofCanada,].D. "Del" Kerry Simpson sd. mix. John Megill boom Jack Martin, Coleen Ryan, CP Rail, William Kachur, Keith who eventually blow up. This slow burn Buchanan sd. ed. Nick Rotundo assts Alastair Gray. "bloodlust," the biker tells us, could ren­ Gans. Produced with the assistance of The Manitoba is quite different from the more flashy Anthony D 'Andrea, Shan Barr foley Peter McBumie der him oblivious to terror and pain. Arts Council running time 78min. colour 16mm explosions of Robert De Niro, (which re-rec Film House Group mix. Tony van den Akker, Another motorcyclist jokes that want­ dlstrib North American Releasing Inc. (604) 925· may explain why Keitel has not Marvin Bums art d. rick Roberts assts. Catherine ing another round of violence was like 2565. Basaraba art dept. co-ord. Sandy Kybarras set dec. achieved his friend 's stardom), but Alan FeUows set dresser Chery Junkin, Linda Del wanting "another cookie." Drugged and Keitel's style works well for guilt-obses­ Rosario asst set dresser Bob Cross set construct. Hot drunken bar fights were commonplace. Sets construC. Man. John Bankson prop mast. Emil Vendettas were frequent. We hear one ' sed figures he played in Martin Scor­ Glassbourg asst. Woody Stewart, Paul Haigh, Kim Stitt Paul Lynch's cese's Mean Streets, James Toback's carp. Ted Samuels cost des. Nada Healy assts Alan St. biker confess that ifhe had been with his Fingers and his role as the censorious Germain, Aline gilmore make-up Nancy Howe hair pretty, blonde wife in the days when she detective in Nicholas Roeg's Bad Tim­ Debi Drennan art dept. trainee Ken Watkins story had sex, as she tells the camera, ''with a Blindside boar~ artist Robert Ballentine gaffer Maris Hansons ing. In Blindside, however, Keitel best boy Cactus gen. Eldie Beson ele. Dave Moxness lot of men," he would have castrated holds himself in to such a degree that he key grip Brian Kuchera grip Dee Embree asst. Mike some of them. Another guy admits that Pendola, Mike Corrigan, BlOke Ballentine m. Paul]. he once actually hired someone to mur­ becomes colourless. Zaza choreography KeUy Robinson spfx Tedd Ross Lynch also fudges other aspects of the min. and explosions William Lishman and Assoc. der his wife - although he cancelled the frlm. Though considerable attention is Ltd. Video Unit co·ord Karen Pidgurski segment co· contract before it was fulfr.lled. The out­ paid to the technology of Gruber's sur­ ord Paul French op. Terry Gallie cam. op. Jan law level of morality was exemplified by Zuchlinski playback Video Options stunt. co-ord one biker's favorite way of grossing-out aul Lynch has spent the last decade veillance equipment, his video cameras Dwayne McLean stunt performers Anton Tyukodi. directing genre exercises. In are seen to pan, when they have been Larry Mclean, Randy Kamula, Larry Hoson. John his buddies. He would stick his face into Stoneham loc. scout John Board loc. asst. Woody Blindside he attempts to return to explicitly shown earlier to be stationary. a toilet and drink all the water. P Sidarous, Lillit "Hank" Williams, Michael Curran, David Then something came riding toward the low-key style that characterized his What is more surprising is the director's Flaherty post. prod. sup. Suzanne Colvin prod. acc. early films, The Hard Part Begins and . decision to downplay any exploitation Joyce Caveen bookeeper Susan Stewart prod. assts. each of the motorcyclists. One biker saw Paul Smith, Andrea McCabe prod. office assts. Paul Blood and Guts. Unfortunately for of the Toronto atmosphere, in contrast a vision of "God's Death Angel" about to Persofsky prod. recept. Robin Wardop craft service kill him. All of them experienced them­ Lynch and his debuting writer Richard to the attention to detail he used to Debra Earhardt, Michelle Milner, Tonby Robinson Beattie, it takes more than a complex show. transport co-ord Dan Dunlop drivers Bill Hoddinott, selves as loathsome creatures wallowing story line, stark cinematography and Because the audience doesn't care Allan P. Mestel. James Am Smith, Mark Moore, Steve in the devil's pit. They hungered to drag about Gruber as a person, there is no in­ lafleur unit pub. Karen Pidgurski cast d. Media Cast· themselves out, and they felt the light­ morally ambiguous characters to make a ing; Lucinda Sill, C. D. C. extra casting Film Extras Ser· ning bolts of grace. These days, having re­ film noir. terest in his guilt feelings. Guilt is why vices! Peter Lavender equip. rental Lightsource Inc. This is one of those stories in which a he involves himself with Julie, who re­ lab. Film House titles and opt Film Opticals Prod Co. nounced drugs, rumbles, bestial sex, and Norstar Enter~nment in association with Telefilm all other ultra-cheap thrills, they ride professional voyeur sees too much and minds him of)anine, his wife - the tryst Canada, CFCN Communications Ltd. , British Columbia becomes involved in a conspiracy. It between them in an apartment over a TeleviSion, TBA Films S. A. colour 35nun running their motorcycles to spread the "beauty specifically descends from Rear Win- bookstore, brought groans and guffaws time 102 min. dist. Norstar Releasing. of The Word" to others like them. Theirs February 1988 - Cinema Canada/27 • F I L M R E v I E w 5 •

complex i~sue . .He rises to the challenge by presentlOg vIews from a wide range of Jacques Godbout'S personalities: former FLQ activist Fran. <;ois Schirm, Quebec writer Pierre Val­ En Dernier lieres, an ex-Red Brigade militant and a Montreal police officer. Throughout the Recours 70-minute documentary, Godbout deftly juxtaposes their views to present the ft.lm 's main themes. The on-camera interviews form the structure of En Dernier recours. To complement them, Godbout reliesonar­ hen Quebec labour minister Pierre chivalfootage ofthe 1970 October crisis Laporte was kidnapped and mur­ the Denis Lortie affair, the Brigham bomb Wdered in 1970, news spread quickly aimed at Pope John Paul II and the Cruise across the country. Overnight, the Front missile tests in Northern Alberta. In fact, de liberation du Quebec ( FLQ) and the there are very few scenes in the ftlm shot issue of Quebec's independence were by Godbout ( the opening and closing thrust to the fo refront. Newspapers scenes in which a bomb explodes on a labeled FLQ members terrorists and the barren airstrip are probably the best public branded them murderers. examples). But was it really murder and terrorism? • Riding to heaven on a Harley In the interviews Vallieres and Schirm Was the FLQ not fIghting, perhaps, for a draw distinctions about terrorism. is an evangelical movement for bikers. ever, they don't swarm aggressively. Ac­ legitimate cause? Quebec filmmaker J ac­ Schirm claims violence is justifiable if The characters in the movie are a sub­ companied by gospel rock on the sound­ ques Godbout grapples with these ques­ used for a popular cause. "Terrorism," he culture within a subculture. track, they float peacefully past autum­ tions in his latest documentary En Der­ says, "becomes more than just an attack Stavrides, who once made a film about nal trees, through dark tunnels, and back nier recours. In it, he explores ter­ on irmocent victims. " Vallieres adds to Inuit teenagers, approaches his subject into the light. A run is both a sensual and rorism in Canadian SOCiety, analyzing this view, asserting that armed struggles like an ethnographic documentarian. He a religious experience. When the Riders events like the FLQ years, the Denis Lor­ in South Africa, Northern Ireland'or Cen­ records a tribe - the Christian Riders approach us, a filter on the cameraman's tie assault on Quebec's National Assem­ tral America are not terrorism, although Motorcycle Club - as the band members lens turns the beams of their headlights bly and the actions of the 'Vancouver opposing governments and the media go about their daily business, attend into rows of spectral yellow crosses. Five'. label them as such. their rituals, and talk about their lives. The Christian Riders Motorcycle Club In choosing Canadian terrorism as a In defIning terrorism, Godbout fails to Stavrides keeps a certain distance, fram­ is compelling because its members con­ subject, Godbout opens the door on a distinguish between democratic and ing his subjects (the Cinematographer vince you they have gone through real was James Crowe) in cool, uncluttered turmoil and because they are a striking shots that allow us to observe and cross-breed of born-again and biker. evaluate - or simply observe out of in­ However, near the end of the film , you terest, and not even bother with judg­ might worry a little about them. A ments. The movie has no narrator, and preacher who only borrows bikes now, most of it is not cut in a way that makes and who would not be out of place on a editorial points, or turns your head with ]V evangelist's show, delivers a real fIre biting ironies. - and - brimstone sermon. It is the fIrst However, the picture often induces time in the picture that we hear so much you to sympathize with the Christian disturbingly violent religious rhetoric. Riders. Not only does their thirst for sal· And some of the Riders - dressed vation seem genuine and reasonably un­ straight, no colors - don't look like bik­ sentimental, they display eccentric indi­ ers anymore. viduality and a sense of irony. At a revival The fact that God Rides a Harley meeting, one of them grins and de­ rolls toward this scene suggests that scribes the way he sees Jesus's face. The Stavrides is implying the film 's charac­ Lord's long hair is crowned by a motor­ ters could become something other than cycle helmet, and he's wearing shades. what they are now. But then he cuts God is motorcyclist. And naturally, he away from the revival meeting and back rides a Harley. to the highway, to the Riders on their The ex-outlaws in the film have cast bikes. He repeats a travelling close-up of off all their former ways, except for one: a female biker in a black leather jacket. they haven't stopped being bikers. Im­ In profile, she smiles serenely, taking ages you expect to see in any motorcy­ pleasure in the sensation of being up cle movie, whether it is called The Wild there on that motorcycle which is carry­ One, The Wild Angels, Easy Rider, or ing her toward Heaven's gate. Satan's Choice (the first Canadian biker picture, which was, not surprisingly, also Maurie AIioff • a documentary), appear in God Rides a Harley. Stavrides gives us the close-ups of boots, buckles, and chains; he pans GOD RIDES A HARLEY d. Stavros C across icons stitched into jean jackets Stavrides p. Andreas Erne. Stavros C Stavrides assoc. and leather vests. The images are famil­ p. Michael Wainwright story consult. Spencer Frazer iar, even though crosses and 'jesus is UalsooJanet McCreadie d. o . p. James Crowe film ed. Steve Stephenson sd. Peter Sawade add m . by. Carlos Lord' have replaced skulls and 'Born To Lopes, Adian Mason m . "Are You Ready" (Charlie Allen Lose'. and John Hill), performed and arranged by Ben McPeek The Riders are still bikers, not self­ and Jerome McPeek. synthesizer programming by Don Baird ; "Questions" Uustin Hayward) performed and ar· righteous prudes who have renounced ranged byBen McPeek andJerome McPeek. synthesizer all their pleasures. Stavrides cuts regu­ programming by Don Baird. "Gospel Plow" (Bob larly to liquidly edited shots of the club Dylan). performed by Paul James. colour 16mm ruo­ ning time 81 min An Ano-PeW Motion Pictures Pro­ enjoying the feel of their big choppers duction distributed by Creative Exposure ( 416) 690· on the roads of southern Ontario. How- 0667.

28/Cinema Canada - February 1988 • F I L M R E v I E w 5 •

non-democratic contents. To North bat became an obsession with the Ger· take this sport seriously, but it does very Americans and European, most forms of Don Sheibib's mans after it claimed the lives of 31 little to enhance the declining reputa­ political violence equate terrorism. But members of a German climbing party in tion of Shebib as a director of merit. in Latin American or African countries, 1932. The script concentrates on Her· The Climb was produced by Wendy political violence is used to gain indepen­ The Climb mann Buhl (Greenwood), a famed Wacko, an emerging, Alberta·based in­ dence from a violent oppressor. Can the mountaineer whose reckless and deter­ dependent who has become an adept FLQ 's call for an independent Quebec be mined ambition leads him into conflict deal-maker. The film was originally fi· fairly compared to the African National with the team's bureaucratic leader, Dr. nanced by CTV, the BBC and Telefilm as Congress' struggle against apartheid? Karl Herrligkoffer Oames Hurdle). a 60-minute drama. By stretching things, Godbout is clear, though, in making Whereas Herrligkoffer is climbing for Shebib, Wacko and Leiterman produced one point - terrorism, like most events the glory of the German nation, Buhl a feature, but the material and direction depend on communications and a mass on Shebib has come a long way climbs for himself and the mystical chal­ still suggest a 60-minute drama. audience. Journalists, he explains, be· since his triumphs with Goin' lenge of the mountain. come key players in its transmission. DDown the Road and Between As they proceed slowly up the Wyndham Paul Wise • Without them and a powerful media sys· Friends in the early '70s. Since that icefields, news arrives of Hillary's con­ tem, terrorism has less of an impact. time, Gain' Down the Road has consis­ quest of Everest. Disappointed and con· Godbout twists this point in one se­ tently been listed as one of the 10 great fronted with rebellious porters and Marquise Lepage's quence probing two Canadian journalists Canadian films, and She bib carries it dwindling supplies, Herrligkoffer de­ who witness a destructive Paris bomb­ around with him rather like Orson WeI· cides to retreat before making it to the ing. The two are perplexed when God­ les used to carry Citizen Kane. It has top. Buh! disobeys orders to return to Marie s'en bout asks if they thought first of their become both a blessing and a curse. A base camp and makes the final assault photo assignments or of helping the source of pride for those committed to alone, without oxygen or support. After va-t-en ville burning victims. the notion of a distinctive Canadian a full day's climb, exhausted and hal· En Dernier recours is an analytical cinema, Gain' Down the Road lingers lucinating, he makes it to the top. Unable documentary raising a number of subtle as a reminder of a great talent gone to to climb down in the dark, he has to waste. issues. In one sequence, former Parti spend the night there, keeping himself arie s'en-va-t'-en-ville sounds like In over a decade, She bib has directed Quebecois minister Bernard Landry is awake in freezing temperatures. His sur­ the title of a fable or a folktale. And only four features, the last one being asked if he felt threatened during the vival is a credit to his fierce determina· indeed it is the story of a country in­ Running Brave with Robbie Benson in M Denis Lortie assault on Quebec's Nation­ tion, and in the context of the ftlm, nocent who comes to the City. 1983. Disputes with the producers al Assembly, an incident in which seven miraculous. The ghost of one of the dead In the folktale, the youngest son or, in caused Shebib to withdraw his name people were killed. Landry answers a climbers helps him down the mountain this case, daughter leaves home and goes from that film, which had only limited blunt no. "We are all hostages of ter­ the next day! to seek her fortune. After many trials and theatrical release. Since then, he has rorism. " the arms race is an ongoing Shot by Richard Leiterman, Shebib's tribulations she wins out and obtains her been active in TV, mostly directing form ofviolence. "Godbout makes a clear brilliant cinematographer for both Gain heart's desire. In this first feature by Mar­ episodes of The Edison Twins, Night point of this to highlight American and Down the Road and Between quise Lepage, we have the story com­ Heat, and Danger Bay. Shebib's strug­ Soviet militarism. Friends, The Climb does manage to plete with wicked sibling - a brother gles with the Canadian industry and the The film 's final sequences cover a Van­ communicate some of the mystical al­ who sexually harasses our heroine - and CFDC (now Telefilm) have become as couver-based group who have bombed lure of mountaineering. The scenery a mother who is too busy with the other famous as his earlier successes. and sabotaged Canadian military-indus­ (The Climb was ftlmed on location in children to give her youngest adequate The Climb, his latest foray into fea­ trial targets. ButunIik.eotherformsofter­ Northern Pakistan and the Columbian love and protection. ture filmmaking, is an old-fashioned rorism or armed struggles depicted in the icefields in)asper National Park) is glori­ In Quebecois culture, the country piece of macho action-drama. It stars Ca­ film, the Vancouver group raises an in­ ous and there is plenty of man vs. land­ usually represents simpler and more nadian-born Bruce Greenwood from teresting distinction - their targets, scape imagery. Much of it is repetitious, wholesome values than the city. But in TV's St. Elsewhere, with a Canadian rather than people or innocent victims, but it is stunning nonetheless. this film some sort of reversal of this tra­ supporting cast that includes Kenneth are military installations and weapon However, the film is curiously lacking ditional structure is taking place. Maybe Walsh, Ken Pogue and Tom Butler. How­ sites. As Godbout illustrates, are these in any real suspense, and the acting is un­ it is because Marie only comes from the ever, there is nothing Canadian about anti-war militants really terrorists? even, at best. The oddity of having the suburbs. For, as in the folktale, the inno­ The Climb subject matter, and in many Today, military arms and production Germans speak in accented-English cent finds true love and happiness when ways it harks back to the bad old tax have become the world's largest industry while carrying a German-inscribed she leaves home. There is none of the shelter days when the deal was more im­ ($800 billion annually). Governments, plaque to their dead comrades strains miserabilism of the Quebecois films of portant than the film. It has none of the many ofthem democratically elected, ac­ the credibility of all the performances. the '70s here; everything is up-tempo. freshness and vitality of recent English­ tively promote and support wars. The Shebib's direction is conventional and In some ways, Marie s'en-va-t'-en­ language Canadian productiOns, and suf­ American Constitution, itself a much­ somewhat stilted. He relies too heavily ville is a gem. It has tight scripting, good ' fers from a thin, one-dimensional script. heralded example of justice, guarantees on the drama of the inert mountains to acting, nice visuals and nice music. For a The film is based on the true story of the right of individuals to bear arms. This compensate for the lack of dJ,'ama in the first feature, this is quite an achievement. a 1953 German expedition to conquer mass proliferation of weapons has made performances. The conflict set up be­ And yet the film disappointed me. Even Nanga Parbat, a treacherous Himalayan violence an intrinsic tool in relations be­ tween Huh! and Dr. Herrligkoffer seems though I believed in the two main peak, described in the film as "the most tween people and states. Unlike the title strained and all too predictable. The characters, the situation itself seemed beautiful mountain in the world". Al­ of Godbout's film, arms and violence Climb is a ftlm that certainly will have incredible and robbed the film as a though not as high as Everest, Nanga Par- have become more than just a last resort. tremendous support from those who whole of credibility. Maybe I'm too cyn­ Rather, as En Derniers recours effec­ • Because they are there. mountains cause frostbite and death ical, but it's hard to believe in the old tively depicts, they've rapidly become an stereotype of the whore with the heart effective first choice for those both in and of gold; would a prostitute (Sarah) really out of power. take on the responsibility of caring for a 13-year-old runaway (Marie)? Robbie Hart • Once one gets past this incredible situation one can see that the film is deal­ ing with themes that are preoccupying EN DERNIER RECOURS A Jacques Godbout film with the collaboration of Janine Krieber many women filmmakers at present. The and Werner Nold eL Jacques Godbout sd. eeL Roger relationship between an older and a Boire sd. nUx. Adrian Croll admin. Joanne Gallant. younger woman is recurrent in many of Monique Lavoi.loc. man. Michael Dandavino eLo.p these films. In High Tide, an Australian Jean·Pierre Lachapelle assisted by Serge Lafortune sd. Richard Besse sc.1 research ]anine Krieber sc. ed. film by Gillian Armstrong, a nightclub Werner Nold m. Fran~ois Dompierre tides Louise singer comes across the daughter she Overy cam.]ean·Pierre Lachapelle asst. cam. Serge abandoned 14 years before. Painfully she Lafortune MI. Richard Besse sph Louid Craig p. Eric Michel. A National Film Board of Canada Production. comes to a realization of the sterility of colour 16mm running time 70 min. 40 her present existence and decides to

February 1988 - Cinema Canada/29 • F I L M R E v I E w 5 •

take her child back and assume the bur­ ciety. Maybe women have come to den of love and responsibility this en­ realize the emptiness of too much free. tails. dam. After the return to the mother in There is a Similar theme in this movie. feminist theory, perhaps we'll get the reo Sarah is also alone, living a sterile, un­ turn to the daughter, In any case, in both loved and unloving existence. It is these films (as in Anne Trister), the through caring for Marie that she comes men seem external to the main drama. In to realize this and, at the end of the mm, Marie s'en-va-t'-en-ville, all the men we are led to believe that she will give we see (the brother, the pimp, the cus. up this way of life. tamers) are definitely the enemy. But The ftlm is about two people in need, again here, a potentially tragic subject is meeting, fulfilling each other's needs trivialized by a light-comedy approach. and furthering each other's growth. Perhaps one should see this film as Marie is very naive and believes Sarah feminist theory diluted for mass con­ when she tells her that she works as a sumption. The ftlm is partly funded by in Radio-Canada and it will fit nicely into waitress. Like the young woman Lea • Frederique Collin and Genevieve Lenoir in the city Pool's Anne Trister, the relationship their schedule. becomes sexual but in this mm, in keep­ concern with external sexual codes is together too lightly in the ftlm. Espe­ Mary Alemany-Galway • ing with the lighter tone, the issue of les­ the prostitute's use of these codes to at­ cially repellent is the scene where Sarah bianism is avoided. There are scenes tract her customers, Much is made of a runs out to turn a trick so that she can MARIE S'ENVA-T-ENVlLLEscMar, which surely suggest this possibility' and series of wigs that Sarah wears. She is no buy some fancy clothes for Marie. quise Lepage with the colIab. of Fran~ois BOuvier, Pierre Foglia, Micheline l.anctot,Jacques Leduc d Mar. Sarah's apartment has a sensuous, ,longer young and attractive, and when Godard used prostitution as a metaphor quise Lepage consult. Meah Beaudry asst d Rene womb-like quality with its deep-blue the villain of the piece (a pimp I pre­ for how we must all sell our souls and Pothier, Catherine Didelot cont. Marie La Haye do.p. walls, the pink satin sheets and the black sume) snatches off her wig, she looks our bodies to survive in a modern soci­ Daniel Jobin asst. Michel u Veaux sd. Marcel Fraser shawl embroidered in gold which hangs naked and pathetic. It is at this point too ety. Perhaps there is some of this idea art. d. Fran"ois seguin hair! make-up Micheline Tre· partier ward Nicole Pelletier prod. man. Roselyne . on the wall. But the mm firmly stays that Marie realizes that Sarah is a prosti­ here. If so, it is kept at such a trivial, com­ uverdiere lighting Alex Amyot grip Marc De Ernsled away from any sexual innuendos and, in­ tute. The fantasy fades and Marie must edic level that the metaphor becomes ed. Yves Chaput sd. ed. Marcel Pothier m. Michel stead, concentrates on Marie's playing come to terms with the reality, which perverted and loses its tragic intona­ Ri vard sup. p. Claude Canier prod. man. Simone Leroux prod. asst. Marcel Simard, Danielle Charlebob different sexual roles as she tries on she does easily enough for such an inno­ tions, exec. p _ Fran"ois Bouvier. A Productions du lundi Sarah's make-up, jewelry and clothes. cent. I suppose that her previous experi­ It is true that Sarah is redeemed matin prodUction dist. Les Films J. A. upointe Inc. InL Just the sort of thing a young girl would ences with Sarah have prepared her for through her love and care of the young Sales Films Transit Inc. colour 35 rom runnlngtime 80 min. l.p. frederique Collin, Genevieve Lenoir, Denis do. this. But, I find it hard to see it this way. girl, as in High Tide, and I suppose that Levasseur. Robert Boivin, Genevieve Filion, Viviane Tied in with the typical adolescent's Prostitution seems to be taken al- these ftlms might signal a need in our so- Paca!. Louise Richer.

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30/Cinema Canada - February 1988 • •

hood, we never really see the forces that Yves Dion's have shaped them. The role of the Catho­ lic Church in QuebeCOiS society, for in­ stance, is never mentioned. I suppose L'Homme, that the director is trying to address a uni­ versa I 'masculine condition' but it seems renverse to me that the particular can make the general more interesting. Perhaps this lack is also felt by the film­ maker for he makes a further jump from the fictional to the symbolic mode. With­ 'homme renverse (Man Upside­ the film remains semi- amused, semi -frus­ replies that he was already being taunted out any preparation, he cuts to a scene down) is a feature-length film which trated by these men who are trying to with the label of homosexual by the gang which seems to have no relation to the Ldeals with the 'new man', i.e., one play the game of self-disclosure which of boys to which they belonged and asks rest of the film, since none of the charac­ confronted with a world where his male was such a big part of the consciousness­ Daniel why he never defended him? ters we've previously encountered ap­ prerogatives are no longer taken for raising groups in the women's move­ Daniel answers that he couldn't do any­ pear in it. It is a rather strange scene. The granted. How does this 'new man' react ment. thing about it. This triggers Guy's anger camera is focused on the back of a truck to the changed situation? Has he himself But these three do not just sit around at Daniel 's superiority in any situation. which moves through a small town or a really changed? and talk. Being actors they try to use im­ The competitiveness which is perhaps at suburban setting. On the truck sits a man, My first thought on looking at this film provisation techniques in small skits the core of every male relationship sur­ naked except for a loincloth, facing the was that a woman should never have which deal with masculine roles. How­ faces here, and is underscored in the film camera, with his hands chained to the been sent to review it. I felt like a voyeur ever there are problems. Guy is the first by a little vignette seen from Guy's point­ side of the truck. He is covered in white looking through a peephole into the one to show his reluctance. "Je veux pas of-view. Three teenagers come out of the flour. Several other men, who are also on boys' locker room. Indeed there is some­ apporter mes bibittes," he says. And alley next to the restaurant, two boys and the truck, keep putting raw eggs and thing voyeuristic about a film that starts Claudine replies, "That is the masculine a girl. They seem very chummy until the other noxious substances on his body. up as a documentary and ends up as a fic­ condition." This, it seems t6 me, is the girl starts to playfully hit one of the boys. He makes no protest. As the truck drives tion. At least this was my first impression thesis of the film. For Yves Dion the mas­ They run off together and end up making along we see reaction shots of people of the structure of the film. And I think culine condition seems mostly to be an out while the other boy wistfully looks watching from the side of the road. This that generally the first part does come inability to communicate one's intimate on. is quite a long scene but there is never any across as a documentary. problems. Perhaps, even an inability to The questions that come to mind are : explanation given for it. It seems to be a We meet two actors and one actress acknowledge them. Even Daniel, who is is there such a lack in the documentary ceremony which is sometimes still seen who are taking part in a filmed workshop the more extrovert of the two 'actors, says mode that the filmmaker has switched to in Quebec, a rite ofpassage for the about­ on the subject of sexuality. This part is that his goal in life is to never have to talk fiction? Or, is the whole film a fiction to-be-marriedmale.Ipresumeitismeant done in a cinema-verite style and even in­ again, to never be obliged to define him­ from beginning to end? The questions as some sort of symbol for the masculine cludes interviews with the participants self. He points out that the male is always have wide implications for documentary condition. The man certainly seems to be conducted by the director. Since the di­ playing the role of the super-hero, like filmmaking in Canada at the moment and trying to prove that he can take it like a rector is played by Yves Dion who is the James Bond, equal to any situation. have much to do with the decline of ·man'. director of the film we assume that this is The fact that we are never sure what is cinema-verite. Documentary film­ The last scene of the film also seems to have some sort of symbolic import. Guy 'reality'. But there are several filmic scripted and what is not becomes an ex­ makers in the past thought they could is left alone in the studio, rejected by his codes at play here and if we watch care­ cellent device to keep the audience ques­ capture the truth of a situation by simply fully, right from the start of the film, the tioning the truth of these statements. For letting it happen in front of camera, or woman, tortured by his insecurities and, 'reality' of the documentary footage is myself, as a woman, the film was doubly even by making it happen. Present-day in a very theatrical scene, he ends up hud­ put into question. mysterious since the condition was other documentary filmmakers seem to find it died on the floor in front of a curtain The first shot of the film is of a tape-rec­ than my own. I finally had to drag a male more honest to create fictions based on which covers one of the walls. Guiltily, order and the sound man. This estab­ friend to see it with me and tell me if this real-life situations. The basic conflict in Daniel, who had abandoned him, comes lishes the filmic apparatus, a device often was really the way it was. He thought that the film, between the director and his ac­ back only to be punched out as Guy used in cinema-verite to remind the au­ it was true that males seldom talk be­ tors, is thus symptomatic not only of the . lashes out in his pain. Finally they both dience that this is 'reality' and it includes tween themselves about intimate mat­ male condition but also of the failings of end up sitting on the floor, side by side, the presence of the film crew. It is a shot ters. Apparently it leaves one open to cinema-verite. A situation is set-up by huddled and miserable, in front of the which signals that we are in the docu­ questions about one's virility. the filmmaker where his actors are sup­ curtain; freeze framed-end of film. The mentary mode. The next few shots are of posed to reveal their inner lives but find film closes with this apparent dead-end, a man parking a car. In terms ofcinematic At this point the film began to make themselves unable to do so. I have always symbolic perhaps of the two characters' codes they are much too structured more sense to me. In the workshops wondered how much of the truth about pain and frustration at not being able to (separate shots taken from different ang­ there are a couple of improvisations the themselves people really told in inter­ transcend their condition. les, car coming up to the camera and stop­ actors undertake which seem significant. views. Who wants to disclose their pri­ ping) to belong to the cinema-verite, One is concerned with father figures, the vate selves in front of a camera, anyway? Mary Alemany-Galway _ catching-life-on-the-move, mode: On other with sexual harassment. The father Perhaps only a very exhibitionist person­ the sound track we hear the voice of the figures are just as unable to communicate ality like Shirley Clarke's Jason. Docu­ driver. This is another cinema-verite im­ as their sons, retrenched as they are in mentary filmmakers seem to have L'HOMME RENVERSE d. Yves Dion sc. possibility since we are apparently listen­ their authoritative masculine roles. With realized these limits and thus the birth of Yves Dion. Rene Gingras d. o. p. Pierre Letarte add. these models befo~e them it is easy to see cam.lkey grip Kevin O'Connell sd. Alain Comeau ing to his thoughts. He's arriving at the the docudrama. Richard Besse asst. cam. Seraphin Bouchard. Michel~ studio where the workshops are to take why the sons have problems. The improv But is this such a new form? It seems Paulin a. d. Pierre Houle loc. man. Norbert Dufour place, and catching a glimpse of the other on sexual harassment is even more in­ to me very close to Italian neo-realism in mach.lelec. Marc Paulin loc. res. Michel Dandavino teresting in that Guy is completely un­ ed. Yves Dion asst. ed. Monlque Gervais grip m. Fer. actor, he muses on how sure the other concept if not in execution. Perhaps this nand Bernard m. mix Louis Hone sd. ed. Marie-Claude was of himself when they were young. able to deal with it or to go on acting in is because the docudramas are mostly Gagne asst. sd. ed. lynda Peers sdfxVital Millene mix Inside the studio we see the two actors, it. It is this scene which triggers the based on the emotional experiences of Hans Peter Strobl. Adrian F. Croll tides concept Elizabeth Melan~on tides Louise Overy admin who were apparently childhood friends, Change from the documentary mode to the characters and unlike neo-realism do the fiction mode. Monique Letourneau. Nicole Charlebois prod sec. meet. They are Guy (the driver) and not tie up these experiences in any direct Louise Sutton. Joanne Pelletier p. Suzanne Dussault. Daniel and are joined by Claudine. Guy We leave the worskshop space and go way to the physical, social and political Roger Frappier. Michel Gauthier thanks to Jean Dan­ sereau. Reynald Robinson.Jacques Girard, Michel Brais, is an actor in TV commercials, Daniel acts out with Guy and Daniel on a ride to their environments in which they are lived. Guillenno de Andrea, Marc Chabot. Helene Doyle. in experimental theatre and Claudine is old neighbourhood. The camera be­ This, in my opinion, gives a closed, studio Gaetan Martel and special thanks to Michel Gauthier there as a representative of the women's comes an invisible witness, whose point­ feel to the docu-dramas which is claus­ 1. p. Andre Lacoste. Yves Degagnes. Johanne Seymour. of-view is that of the narrator/director. trophobiC and limiting. For instance, Guy Yves Dion. Guillaume Bourque. Geoffroy St-Hilaire. movement. In an interview, Yves Dion Brigitte Singher. Paul Haddad. Colin O'Meara, Sylvie asks her for her reaction to being asked Over dinner, Daniel tells Guy that, when and Daniel seem to be typical Quebecois Drapeau, Fran~ois Connier. Christine Seguin. Maximi. to take part in a workshop on the mas­ they were young, he had witnessed Guy (to the point of being stereotypical) and lien Melan"on. Dion (Maximilian). Isabelle Vincent, being sexually harassed in the comer yet, though they discuss their youth and Anne-Marie Desbiens, Ginene Chevalier. A National culine condition. "Amused at first," she Film Board of prodUction coul. 3Smm running time replies. Indeed her attitude throughout grocery store. Why did he deny it? Guy take a walk through their old neighbour- 97 min.

February 1988 - Cinema Canada/31