Canadians are probably the only people on the planet who are constantly bringing up the fact that so-and-so is Canadian. That is to say, the person is not American. (Americans, of course, suffer from no such insecurity.) But who can blame us? When you are a small country, living next to a media powerhouse, it’s hard not to feel like your own identity has been sucked into the vortex that is the United States.
But we Canadians are different. Our story is different and therefore who we are is different. So to remind ourselves of this we often need to point out that _______ (insert famous musician, movie director, novelist) is actually from the Great White North.
In this spirit of claiming our own, I present my 25 favourite Canadian films. The order will not match those already listed in my Top 130 movies list since my opinion has changed since January. (Yes, I’m allowed to do that.)
1. The Man Who Planted Trees (1987, short)
Our CBC tax dollars at their best: this short film, like the more recent Ryan, won every animated short film award available when it was released and was nominated for the Palme D’Or at Cannes. (That’s right, a short animated film was listed among live action features for the best film in the world that year.) And yes, it is that good. Like Ryan, I can present the film in its entirety below. While it runs 30 minutes, I can’t recommend this film enough. You will be encouraged and moved by the end…
2. Big Girl (2005, short)
An elegant short film about a young girl trying to get rid of her mom’s new boyfriend.
3. Ryan (2004, short)
See my comments here.
4. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992, Doc)
A visually compelling introduction to the ideas of Noam Chomsky.
5. Everything’s Gone Green (2006)
In the spirit of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, director Paul Fox crafts the quintessential Vancouver movie written by the quintessential Vancouverite: Douglas Coupland.
6. The Dark Hours (2005)
Another perfectly crafted film by Fox, The Dark Hours is an intelligent thriller for the thinking moviegoer.
7. Lonely Boy (1962, Doc)
From NFB’s Unit B department comes this cinema verite look at Paul Anka at the height of his stardom.
8. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
This devastating film from Atom Egoyan was nominated at the Oscars for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
9. A Simple Curve (2005)
A lovely story set in the interior of BC about a young man who discovers he might have two fathers.
10. Anne of Green Gables (1985, TV)
This seminal TV miniseries of the 80s will forever be a part of my childhood. Having never read the books, I remember weeping when Richard Farnsworth grabbed his arm and collapsed in his field.
11) Le Confessionnal (1995)
12) waydowntown (2000)
13) The Corporation (2003)
14) Solitude (2001)
15) See Grace Fly (2003)
16) Nobody Waved Goodbye (1964)
17) Falling Angels (2003)
18) Jesus of Montreal (1989)
19) The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
20) Manufacturing Dissent (2007)
21) Water (2005)
22) Uganda Rising (2006)
23) Regarding Sarah (2006, short)
24) Strange Brew (1983)
25) How to Make a Canadian Film (2005, short)
Does anyone know that movie where
theirs a guy that flys a plane I think up to alaska and drops off some big drums of stuff lol……….and meets some alaskans and they get him to take an alaskan women that has that lung disease that makes you cough up blood but his plane crashes and hes stuck in the middle of no where with the alaskan girl and winnters coming and the alaskan girl teaches the plane guy to hunt and do other stuff
I think it was suppost to take place in the 50’s or 60’s
and I think the movie was made in the late 90’s earily 2000’s
I’m pretty sure the main actor was canadian and he had blonde hair lol…..
I can really remember but i think the title had someting to do with north or something
Are you referring to The Snow Walker?
greetings:
this is a long shot, i’ve been looking for this movie now for a number of years. it was a story of two young canadian women and it had to do with their relationship and it had to do with one or both of them being tied to the circus i believe. i remember it as being a very touching story and i’ve wanted to see it again.
do you have any ideas or where to go and search?
thank you very much for your time.
charlie ross
juneau, alaska
Hi Charlie,
Perhaps you mean WHEN NIGHT IS FALLING by Patricia Rozema?