Passchendaele (2008)
The concept of “Canadian Popular Cinema” has been dismissed as a contradiction in terms, but is such derisive sentiment towards Telefilm’s zeitgeist-capturing ambitions justified? To find out, Canuckbusters looks back on the last decade or so of Canadian “commercial” cinema.
Canadian Stars: Not just any Canadian star—the Canadian star. Broadway’s Paul Gross.
Canadian Celebrity Cameos: None. It would have been weird to cut away in the middle of a battle scene to, like, the Royal Canadian Air Farce in military fatigues, or something.
Strombo Cameo? No.
The Plot: As the “Reflections on Passchendaele” section of the film’s official (and still active) website attest, Paul Gross’ war epic arrived in theaters with the gravity of an election and the solemnity of a high school Remembrance Day assembly. This, the fans who wrote in implied, was no mere movie. This was a national event. “I agree that every Canadian should see this film. It’s a point in our history that shouldn’t just sit in a history book somewhere,” wrote Troy Simpson of Windsor, Nova Scotia. “For a brief time, I was no longer a member of the audience…I was a Canadian in the trenches,” claimed Darryl Reimche of Sherwood Park, Alberta. “I will be giving a sermon on November 9th before our veterans. This movie will be my base,” added Reverend Sally McShane of Vancouver.
Given this understanding (and given that the $20 million budget was raised from a gaggle of investors as varied as Telefilm, CanWest, CIBC, and the Government of Alberta), it’s no surprise that Passchendaele attempts to be a war movie for all people, and all ideologies. Take the protagonist: Michael Dunne (Gross) is a decorated First World War veteran from Calgary—wise, sensible, square-jawed, and prone to inserting statistics about Canadian military history into his monologues (“We took that ridge and we held it. The British couldn’t do it, the French couldn’t do it, it was just us—the Canadian Corps”). But because this is a 21st century war movie, he’s also weary and disillusioned, discharged in 1917 with shell shock, racked with guilt over killing a young German soldier, and with a propensity for futility-of-war aphorisms (“You’re lookin’ for romance, kid—you’re not gonna find it in a trench”).
Gross’ rock-solid good looks would not be out of place in an old Hollywood war movie, but Michael Dunne is conceived more as a forward-thinking beacon of tolerance, and positioned in a dichotomy with the sinister British recruitment officer, Dobson-Hughes (Jim Mezon, very Victor Buono-esque). This moustache-twirling monster evaded active duty in the Boer War, but spreads rumours that the insubordinate Michael dropped out due to cowardice. If that’s not enough, he just keeps falling on the wrong side of history. “I don’t expect a woman to understand this, but our country is rife with saboteurs.” Boo! Hiss!
Since Gross’ directorial signature is so willfully anonymous, the main interest of Passchendaele is the tension between its Old-Fashioned Style™ and its progressive aspirations. Michael woos lovely young nurse Sarah Mann (Caroline Dhavernas) via some questionable romantic dialogue and a series of photogenic hikes through the Albertan scenery, but contrived ambiguity re-appears when Michael discovers her German born-father died fighting in the enemy army. Of more pressing concern, Sarah’s little brother (David Mann) enlists in the army to win over his girlfriend’s parents, so Michael takes it upon himself to head back to Europe to protect him, and perhaps show the kid that killing a man isn’t as glamorous as it seems.
Unfortunately, Michael lands in time for the titular battle. Cannons are fired; bigoted British recruiting officers are unceremoniously killed; romantic embraces are had, music is swelled, heroes die a hero’s death, and one of the characters may or may not walk across a battlefield carrying a cross. War is hell. Also, it’s glorious.
What Passchendaele teaches us about Canada (if anything): Recently at New York’s Lincoln Center, Guy Maddin said that, “Canadians are constitutionally averse to self-mythologizing”—mainly because our neighbours to the south are so prone to it. Passchendaele is an exception: a proudly corny, un-ironic cinematic equivalent of an Ottawa war memorial. Because Canadian films are so self-effacing—what with Red Green’s pursuit of a third-place medal being symbolic of Canada’s third-place international status, etcetera—there is something vaguely touching about such an earnest, unabashedly patriotic bit of Canadiana.
By now, Passchendaele has settled into a long and relaxing retirement in a high school history class somewhere, and now that it’s just us in the room, I guess we can let our guards down and admit it’s kind of a bad movie. The dialogue is clichéd and exposition-heavy, the music is cheesy and on-the-nose (the soundtrack would probably include “Mischief Theme” or “Epic Splendor of the Albertan Scenery Theme”), 1917 Calgary lacks texture, and the story is assembled from scenes and archetypes of innumerable American war movies. Oh, and did I mention that Paul Gross actually carries a cross through a battlefield? Actually, there’s already another man crucified on it—Paul Gross out-Christs Christ. Aside from its violent, persuasive recreations of trench warfare, the film has the tone and production values of a feature-length “Canadian Heritage Moment” TV spot.
But while Passchendaele is a bad movie, I’ve got no beef with it. Actually, I’m glad it exists, and if I’m not quite as excited as Revered Sally McShane, I do think kids should see it. Listen: When prominent war battles get big movies made out of them, they become more deeply ingrained in our collective consciousness. You know it, I know it, and we might as well admit it. We remember that the battle was significant and worthy of respect, or else they wouldn’t have made a movie about it.
Canada doesn’t have many big war movies. When I was in tenth grade, you know what we did in history class? We memorized the names and casualty counts of the major WWI battles for the test, and then quickly forgot about them. Fast-forward to thirty years from now, when every child in Canada will have had this movie foisted on them in school, year after year after year. They probably won’t like it (after all, it’s pretty boring and sappy), but the mere fact that it dramatizes Canadian history in the style of an American melodrama will give our history more legitimacy.
So, Passchendaele is bad? Yeah, well, so were all those made-for-TV historical docudramas I saw in history class, and at least this one has a $20 million budget and Paul Gross. Americans have plenty of solemn, saccharine war movies to show in their tenth grade history classes, and even if kids today think of Tom Hanks and Matt Damon when they think of the Battle of Normandy, at least they remember what it is. We deserve that, too.
Next Month: Score: A Hockey Musical. Fuck.
