In the lead up to the 7th Canadian Film Festival in Australia (August 2012), join us as we countdown the Top 100 Canadian Films of the past 30 years. We'll be posting one film a day leading up to Canada Day on July 1st 2012. Do you agree with our staff favourites? Let us know your thoughts!
The idea of a Canadian/Australian co-production may sound odd – it seems our industries share only the never-ending desire for our big stars to come back home and make more movies on local soil – but the two actually make for a perfect fit. Both Canada and Australia live in the shadow of America, our predominantly English-language output, never looking “exotic” enough for international audiences (it’s no surprise that many of the Canadian films to find international exposure in recent years are in French); but, there are a few prized national icons who help put occasional spotlights on our industries, such as David Cronenberg for Canada and Baz Luhrmann for Australia.
With Black Robe the two countries joined forces out of necessity when no one else would fund the project. The film tells the distinctly Canadian story of white Jesuit priests and their efforts to convert native Algonquin Indians to Christianity in 1634. Initially set in the French settlement that would later become Quebec City, Black Robe follows Father Laforgue (Lothaire Bluteau) as he sets off down river to find a distant Catholic mission alongside his non-Jesuit assistant (played by Aden Young in his debut performance), and a group of the natives that he frequently calls “savages,” praying to God for them to see the light of his teachings. The escalating danger of their mission proves to be a test for all, but do they have the strength of mind and body to finish it?
Directed by Australian Bruce Beresford and using many Australian off-screen collaborators, Black Robe is a fascinating film in many respects. Quite respected for its detailed use of native languages such as Algonquin, Cree, and Mohawk, the true strength lies in the fact that Beresford never turns this harsh and chill-bitten story into a canvas for flashy, overt sentimentalism. Peter James’s cinematography is suitably impressive given the picturesque, almost untouched surroundings – Beresford filmed on location in Quebec – but never succumbs to odious romanticism that would take away from the brutal realities of the tale. Unlike Michael Mann’s The Last of Mohicans and Terrence Malick’s The New World that came later, Black Robe isn’t all beautiful vistas and hypnotic visuals. One can almost feel the blistering cold that ravages these travellers on their foolhardy journey. It wouldn’t surprise me if Vincent Ward took heavy inspiration from Black Robe for his 2005 New Zealand feature River Queen.
What it does share with Malick’s sublime portrait of the discovery of America, however, is a deeply spiritual connection to its material. Beresford and screenwriter Brian Moore, adapting his own novel, manage to weave varying loyalties throughout that ultimately lead to an acknowledgement that all people’s beliefs should be respected and honoured. Viewing the film now with centuries of hindsight affords us the realization that many of the ideas and traditions of different religious societies are bogus; but the film works in such a way that at least for a brief 100 minutes they are all too real. That the movie ends on the rather solemn note of an unsure future only accentuates this idea even more.
Featuring fabulous music from Georges Delerue and fantastically detailed costume and make-up work, Black Robe is a rare film like Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ that presents religion in a way that can speak to those of us that are non-religious just as much as anybody else. I may not believe in any of this stuff, but I found the ideas and the discussions it raised to be deeply compelling.
"A fiercely realistic drama of frontier Quebec, "Black Robe" mucks about where the new age western "Dances With Wolves" dared not put its pretty paw." (Rita Kempley, The Washington Post)
To see the other films in the countdown so far, click here.