"I kind of gave up talking about Canadian cinema a long time ago. There's a famous story of a British soldier and a French soldier and a Canadian soldier who were captured in the process of the war and sent to be shot by firing squad, but they were each given an opportunity to have a last wish. The Brit asked for a cup of tea, the Canadian asked for 15 minutes to talk about Canadian identity, and the Frenchman asked to be shot before the Canadian."
Donald Sutherland expressed frustration at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival after being asked if he thinks Canada has a national cinema. So he proceeded to tell the joke at the top of the page. Pretty funny.
As an American who writes a lot about Canadian film, I agree with Sutherland that the subject has been overwrought. However, the subject isn't close to being resolved.
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Americans don't have these conversations about film. There are movies with action and explosions, rom-coms, independent film, New York City centric, small town reflections: all with unspoken identity.
Through my eyes, I often see a Canadian sensibility in Canadian film. Those films feel more Canadian than other Canadian films. Perhaps that is unfair but that is a bias I will readily admit.
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."
No, that isn't Sutherland talking about film. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart applied his words to pornography in that case, but you can use the same application to Canadian sensibility in film. I do know it when I see it.
Quebecois films don't struggle with identity, or if they do, that conversation is lost in translation. Perhaps, French-Canadian films don't reflect New Brunswick or the Francophone pockets throughout Canada. The Necessities of Life incorporated language barriers with the Inuit language during a tuberculosis epidemic. That was truly a Quebec story from two different cultures.
English Canada struggles with Canadian identity more because of the heavy media influence from south of the 49th parallel. Americans are oblivious to how well Canadians know U.S. media but Canadian media has to compete against this outside force.
Yet English Canada manages to produce a bunch of films that reflect the Canadian sensibility each year and many others that are still Canadian even without that sensibility.
Incendies, Monsieur Lazhar, War Witch, Gabrielle, Mommy, Felix and Meira: these are the last 6 Canadian nominees for Best Foreign Language Film. All of these films are Canadian but some feel more Canadian.
"The best definition of Canadian content remains a tautology: It's content created by Canadians."
Kate Taylor said that in a The Globe and Mail article earlier this month. The article was in reaction to Natasha, a Canadian film told in Russian.
Canada is a melting pot of different cultures, so some Canadian stories are going to fall into their previous worlds. Deepa Mehta told the stories of Fire, Earth, and Water that were set in India. Room comes from Emma Donoghue, a woman who grew up in Ireland and came to Canada as an adult. Monsieur Lazhar is about an Algerian that now lives in Canada, which is definitely a Canadian story. War Witch takes place on the African continent.
Of the 7 Canadian films that have made the cut for Best Foreign Language Film, 3 of them took place mostly or completely outside Canada: Water (2006); Incendies (2010); and War Witch (2012).
Canada should be proud of its films: those in English or French or a native language. Those in other languages from around the world. Those that take place in Canada. Those that don't. Those that feature American actors. Those with an all-Canadian cast.
And Canadians should be more welcoming to seeing Canadian films. The beauty of the rainbow that is Canadian film is that you'll likely find several that meet your needs. Canadian films can be cheesy or thought-provoking, mature or silly, really outstanding and "why did I pay money to see that crap." Just like films from virtually every other country in the world.
"I'm not joking. This is my job."
That quote is from Donald Sutherland from Animal House in 1978. Even if Sutherland isn't interested in having that conversation about Canadian identity in film, I will make this my job to keep the conversation going.
Photo credit: Ian Gavan/Getty Images Europe — Sutherland and Katayoon Shahabi at the Cannes jury press conference
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