Hark! A Vagrant - I have seen the movie Passchendaele and this is what I think

The last time I could recall watching a war movie featuring Canadian soldiers was a lazy weekend afternoon in Victoria. That time of the week is never a guarantee of good programming and so it was little wonder that most of the channels I flicked through had shows about what Paris Hilton ate for dinner. Thankfully (and maybe a little too reliably), History Television was playing a movie and I settled for that.

It was partway through and I was viewing it sideways from my position (laying on the couch), so maybe I can be forgiven for not having a clue what was going on. It was something like a.. soldier comedy. There was one group of really rowdy fellows, and one group of polished gents in an army camp and they weren't getting along but they were training together for some reason. Apparently, army training is mostly about Who is the Most Macho, and it is quite a whoop-up. Tensions came to a climax when the two sides have an all-out brawl in a saloon. They bond over this and, becoming good buddies, go fight some Nazis. Hooray!  More surprising than the fact that a saloon brawl is a central feature in a war film is that the macho, rowdy fellows were Yanks and the macho snooty gents were - get this - Canadians.



The movie was The Devil's Brigade and since it was made in 1968 it can be forgiven for many things. Mostly it suffers from aging. Put next to a modern production of something like Band of Brothers, The Devil's Brigade makes war look like a picnic with action scenes and good bros. The initial rivalry is campy - "brass knuckle" Americans vs. "brass button" Canadians. Even so: my God! Canadians! In a Hollywood war epic! I know you can't see it but I just spat out my drink.

I wonder that you American readers take for granted the great gift of culture you have in your media. Do not scoff! In 1998, American lads of 18 or so sat in the theatre and were given new appreciation and understanding of what their grandfathers did when they were 18, which may or may not have been landing at Omaha beach. That was a gift, the effect this film had, the new appreciation of other people's sacrifices. I can remember Saving Private Ryan well; millions of Canadians filled the theaters here and they too soaked in this appreciation .. of American history. But not Canadian. The Canadians landed on Juno beach, the British on Sword and Gold beaches, far away from Tom Hanks' movie making team.

I said that was the last time I can remember watching a movie of the World Wars featuring Canadian combatants, but to be honest, I racked my brains and it was the only one, aside from an early 90's made-for-tv movie called Dieppe. That speaks poorly for my memory, but even so, I don't think any other films I might have missed really play out well for modern audiences. If they did, we'd probably have watched them every November 11th in high school.

This is where we get to Paul Gross' Passchendaele. I think the enormous lead I've written to get to this paragraph was to give you a good idea of just what an anomaly this film is. I have lived my whole life without ever seeing more than one film that acknowledged my country's involvement in either world war. Now someone pumps out 20 million to make the most expensive movie ever made in Canada to show me what I've been missing out on. And what a show to pick.

In 1917, Passchendaele in Belgium was fought for by many men from many countries, and victories and losses there claimed countless lives. But this country claimed the battle in our hearts. Canada had been at war since 1914. When Britain entered the fight, her dominions were automatically at war by her side. And we, for the most part, obediently picked up our guns and left home. In 1918, however, Canada signed the Treaty of Versailles as an independent nation. Though there was no doubt, when the time came, that we would join the effort in the Second World War, Britain entered the fight on September 3, 1939, and Canada declared war on Germany on September 10. Our country, our decision. The First World War may have divided us as much as it brought us together, but the victories there- especially Second Ypres, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele, gave this country self assertion, unity and pride it never had before- and the right to demand absolute self-government. Later it became a popular sentiment to note that ours was a country 'forged by fire.' Now it is a popular opinion to say that our independence was bloodless (with emphasis, unlike those Americans); a gentleman's agreement brought about by Confederation in 1867. I and many others would argue that it was not, that it was hard fought for in the trenches of World War I.

This is why it is important to tell those stories, because those wars weren't the same for every country. Of course there are many books on the subject, but the great communicator to the modern audience is the moving picture. As much as I am a fan of Jack Grananstein's 'ragh ragh no one knows history anymore and I'm so mad' approach to the subject (and he really makes a passionate plea for our country to teach the World Wars better than it does now), and do wish that people read more about history, I'm the very first to admit that not everyone is as interested in it as I am. If I were to rely on film culture to tell me a thing or two about my country during the Wars, I would be stuck with The Devil's Brigade, and I would think Canadians were involved in a buddy action adventure.

Passchendaele is not a complicated movie, it is a love story within a war story and that is not uncommon in the genre. And it won't count as one of the greatest war films ever made. It is a good film though, and clearly the product of many of the creator's passions to present this country with it's own story. And since it is part of my country's story, I am grateful for it being around at all. Perhaps when we are watching the American war films we think little of the subtlety of the setting and the characters, that the story of one person fighting could be anyone fighting. But when I watched this film, it was unmistakable how the fact that the first half took place in Alberta affected me. Alberta - I lived there for two years. Or perhaps you know how there are in war movies certain characters that are almost inevitable - an Italian accent from New York, an Irish name from Boston. I gave little thought to this, to voices and faces, watching any of those films. But I tell you, watching Passchendaele and hearing different ones - distinctly, a Quebecois soldier, or a Native from the Prairies, it meant something. Hearing someone mention names of detachments from my country, it made a difference. There were times watching Passchendaele that my heart soared and questioned and felt things it had not before simply because finally, finally, I was being told our story, mine and my neighbours.

But if anyone else asks, you may tell them that my favorite part of the movie was when Paul Gross was the handsomest man in the world and won the war by being good looking.



And now for some comedy relief, the trailer for The Devil's Brigade!