FILIY1 RENEWS Sands would indeed be shown, finally, Pearson's university days were REVIEWS and some nine months behind sched­ spent majoring in Political Science ule, on Monday night, September 12. and Economics. Whatever it is that OF 1977. he learned in the hallowed halls of For once, surrounding events and the University of Toronto, it seems advance publicity did not lead us down to have stuck. So much so that of all SHORT the well-trod garden path. The Tar of Canada's English-speaking film Sands is, indeed, a dynamic and im­ directors, Pearson i,s surely the most portant film, one that enlightens, sensitive to politico/economic is­ FILMS arouses - and raises a number of sues: he has insight, and a solid mea­ crucial moral problems centering on sure of mastery. That is what per­ our society and on the mass media. mits him to reduce terribly complex * * * issues to their main lines, and to ex­ The Tar Sands At one level, of special interest to press their dramatic tensions in d: Peter Pearson, sc: Peter Pearson, Peter aficionados of the Canadian cinema, terms that go straight to an audience. Rowe, Ralph L. Thomas, ph: Ken Gregg, The Tar Sands marks another high ed: Myrtle Virgo, m: Eric Robertson, l.p. A look at Pearson's television rec­ Kenneth Welsh, Ken Pough, Mavor Moore, spot in the career of Peter Pearson, ord shows just how successful he has p: Ralph Thomas, p.c. Canadian Broad­ who, when at his best, is one of our been when he allows the social issues casting Corporation, 1976, col: 16mm, Run- major film directors. It has become to be the warp and woof of the drama, ningtime: 57 minutes. abundantly clear that when Pearson that against and through which the works within the limitations imposed human characters play out their sto­ "Explosive, political drama, zero­ by television, the results verge on the ry- brilliant. Saul Alinsky, Best Damn ing in on powerbrokering by the in­ But Pearson also spent a few years Fiddler, The Insurance Man, Kathy ternational petroleum industry. The at that famed Roman film school, the dramatic story of negotiations and Karuks, and now The Tar Sands, are TV dramas of the highest order. Centro Sperimentale di Cinematogra- confrontations between major oil in­ fia. The experience, undoubtedly en­ dustries and the governments of Ca­ More accurately, they are television films of real merit. riching in helping him to master the nada, Alberta and Ontario, that cli­ essential skills, may well have sown max with the Canadian taxpayer put­ the seeds of future difficulties, or at ting up nearly two billion dollars to least of ambitions difficult to realize. ensure the development of the Atha­ Imagine a young man drinking deep basca Tar Sands. Provocative, con­ The Tar Sands was shown on nation-wide television on Sept. of the intoxicating glories of the Ita­ temporary drama." lian cinema of the '60's. Well, it is 12, 1977. By late September, So said the CBC publicity blurb. difficult to become a sort of WASP And then, to top things off, precisely the premier of Alberta, Peter Fellini, especially when surrounded because of its "explosive, political" Lougheed, had filed a suit by those Toronto critics. nature, the film could not be shown against the Canadian Broad­ Even if Paperback Hero did not try by the CBC TV network. casting Corporation charging to emulate the aesthetic opulence of That was last year. And it was a "damages to character and the Italians, still, in its focussing on shame, really, since the other four reputation". The suit was for the lost hero and his environment, segments of the CBC For the Record $2,250,000. No date has been and in its striving for certain aesthe­ series, of which it was a part (and tic effects, it failed to be convincing, which were written about in these set for the hearing. and it neglected precisely those areas pages, No 36), proved that television that give Pearson's films their great­ films can be intelligent, gripping, est strength. worthwhile. One could be pardonned, then, for Not so in The Tar Sands. With this looking forward to something special film we are more resolutely than when it was learned (almost by acci­ ever in true Pearson territory, where dent) that Peter Pearson's The Tar Pearson's two commercial fea­ the horizon stretches out to social, tures, Paperback Hero and Only God political, economic, vistas. The prob­ Knows, however, tell quite another ing is such that it is difficult to call fUm Credit Abbreviations: d. Director asst d Assis- story. Now is obviously not the time to mind any other fiction that has, in •""I Director, sc: Script adapt Adaptation dial Dialo to go into an analysis of the disparity any comparable measure, dared to 8* ph.: Photography sp ph eff. Special Photographic reveal issues, manoeuvrings, and Effects, ed.: Editor sup ed Supervising Editor sd that exists between Pearson's movie Swnd. sd ed.: Sound Editor, sd rec Sound Recording films and his TV films. But I can't motivations as clearly, and done it P des,: Production Designer ad Art Director set dec. resist trotting out a two-bit super­ as grippingly. *> Decorator, m.: Music, md.: Music Director cost "Mumes. choreo.: Choreography, l.p.: Leading Players ficial conjecture that may bear fol­ In any enterprise of this kind, to exec- p : Executive Producer p Producer assoc p lowing up. Quite possibly it has some­ Associate Producer, p. sup.: Production Supervisor p be sure, the script writing is of su­ J^.' Production Manager p.c: Production Company col thing to do with Pearson's divided preme importance. Full marks have Colour Process dist.: Distributors, narr : Narration cultural/academic heritage. to go to Pearson himself, and to his November 1977/39 FILfTl REVIEWS fellow writers, Peter Rowe and Ralph Issues is one thing. But The Tar The Tar Sands was conceived as a L. Thomas, producer of the entire Sands would hardly be a richly hu­ movie made for TV - but by Mon­ For the Record series. Their com­ man drama if the human equation, day, Sept. 12 it had become full-fled­ bined skill and intelligence in boiling the characters in ' their perplexity, ged, lOO'V TV at its best, steeped in down an enormous amount of tricky, their conniving, or their anguish and immediacy and relevance. The living dangerous material into a clear and hope, were sacrificed to the dictates moment breathed controversy, and sharp "true fiction" is nothing short of a Thesis. Well, they are not; and the viewer knew it. Sure enough, next of remarkable. Clear-cut issues this is one of the great strengths in day Peter Lougheed announced that he emerge as a fascinating line-up of Peter Pearson's work. He always was suing the CBC for defamation of characters, some "real" and some feels for the individual. We are touch­ character! And a few days later, invented (but with their basis, we ed, we care for those living creations Shell Oil declared that it, too intends are assured, in "reality"), become before us. The great socio-economic to develop the Athabasca Tar Sands. organic parts of a pattern that ulti­ issues somehow are incarnated in These oil chaps do not scare easily. mately reveals who and where the these breathing, complex, recogniz­ The touchiness of the situation was power is in Canada. The focus is on able human beings. Pearson, in short, underlined by the CBC's ever-so- the Athabasca Tar Sands wheeler- seems to have pulled off that most discreet treatment of the Monday dealering, but the depth of field goes difficult of feats, striking the ideal night showing. Here in Montreal, for far beyond. balance between clear idea, and flesh- example, the Gazette and the Star did and-blood people. They become or­ not even have the preempting in their Motivations are dramatized, names ganically one. are named: the "real" Premier of daily listings. And the film was sus­ Alberta, Peter Lougheed (beautifully It is Peter Lougheed who elicits piciously short for an hour-long slot. played by Kenneth Welsh), and Frank Pearson's most sympathetic interest. Could someone have been at work Spraggins, the "real" negotiator for Lougheed, that is, and the fictional with the scissors on the most offend­ Syncrude, that amalgamation of Gulf character, Willard Alexander (beauti­ ing passages, as well as secretly Oil, Imperial Oil, and the rest, and fully acted by Ken Pough), who is a hoping that no one would watch the others, including Ottawa's Donald composite of the Lougheed advisers film? MacDonald. The script, with brilliant who were against the deal. One is But there was more. This viewer, succinctness, but never at the cost of made to understand Lougheed's am­ thanks to The Tar Sands, was actual­ sacrificing warm, human touches, bition and the tightrope he must walk, ly wafted back in time. I can remem­ structures back room plotting, pri­ his aspirations for Alberta, and his ber, in Quebec, back in the Old Days, vate conversations, and official round desire to create jobs, stimulate the before the Present Age of Enlighten­ table negotiating in a driving, smooth­ economy, and reap the huge oil pro­ ment, what happened around a very ly flowing narrative that never lets fits for his province. But one is ap­ few very special movies of some doc­ up in interest. palled at the growing recognition of trinal import. Likely as not, a Bishop another reality. Syncrude Canada But the final credit has to go to or a Cardinal would appear (on film) Ltd., and the multinationals who cons­ Pearson qua film director.