# Why CAN Production Company Won't Make AFG Movie/Show



## The Bread Guy (1 Dec 2007)

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act.

*War movies - not our style*
Few references to Afghanistan in Canadian popular culture
Nicholas Hirst, Winnipeg Free Press, 29 Nov 07
Article link - permalink (.pdf)

THERE are several versions of the televised recruiting commercial for the Canadian Armed Forces, but all have two things in common -- they look like Hollywood war movies and they contain the same words: "Fight Fear; Fight Distress; Fight Chaos."

The word "fight" in each instance appears before the word that follows. The final words on screen are: "Fight with the Canadian Armed Forces."

There's no doubt what these commercials are about. No doubt what the message is. One commercial has soldiers, weapons at the ready, tracking carefully into a building for a rescue. Another has an aggressive shot of a frigate at what looks like full speed. Each has a sense of urgency and danger. They are about what the army, navy and air force are about: war.

In the Canadian way, that war is about the good things -- the bringing of peace, order and good government. That's why we are in Afghanistan.

The knowledge that our soldiers might fight in Afghanistan, and might be wounded and killed there, is why the commercials are as direct as they are. In the past, commercials might have recruited on the basis of how soldiers, sailors and airmen could learn a trade or see the world and have adventure. Today they have to reflect the Afghanistan reality.

I like the directness. Armies are about fighting, about winning and possibly about being wounded and dying. Recruits who don't understand that shouldn't be signing up. The reality of fighting and dying in the Canadian Armed Forces was brutally brought home on Nov. 11. Anyone watching the ceremonies in Ottawa couldn't mistake the number of younger people laying wreaths for their loved ones.

This conflict is costing Canada and the families whose sons and daughters are overseas and at risk. We may not, as the United States is, be a nation at war, but we are a nation committing our troops to an international fight.

The commercials reflect that. What is strange is how there are few references to the armed struggle in our popular culture. Sure, there are reports in the newspapers, but with the exception of a CBC radio serial, popular culture is leaving the conflict alone.

Is it because, as a nation, Canadians are uncomfortable with a war-fighting role? Maybe. We have examined military disasters like Dieppe, but our film and television makers don't rush to make military stories and rarely do we portray stories of military heroism.

The Americans, of course, are replete with stories of their military heroes. Even Vietnam received the hero treatment in The Green Berets. On television, the U.S. had Tour of Duty. Veteran producer Steven Bochco had a more cynical and little watched series about Iraq called Over There.

Today, the CBS series The Unit, about the American special forces, is the only top American show not to get a main network broadcast in Canada.

In both tone and style, The Unit is a very modern show. It is suffused with the same knowing cynicism as movies like Syriana, but it still has its heroes.

Canada, however, seems leery of making either movies or television that goes anywhere near the military, even though, as the Afghanistan conflict continues and its achievements and goals become every murkier, it has potential to be a wonderful subject.

The best TV series, television and theatrical movies involve complex stories where choices are difficult, the moral way is not obvious and heroes, at least of some kind, emerge.

Canadians' own ambiguity towards its fighting force would itself seem to add to the possibilities.

So why doesn't my company, Original Pictures, make an Afghanistan series or war movie? The only answer is that we don't think it would sell or be watched in sufficient numbers.

It is tempting to think that a movie or series could be made with the tone of the highly effective recruitment commercials. But what may appeal to potential recruits may well not appeal to the public in general.

Canadians support their soldiers, mourn losses and have been quietly stoic about our involvement in Afghanistan, but for most of us, the military role in Afghanistan takes place in the background.

Putting stories about it on film and television would need a far greater popular acceptance of Canada as a warlike nation than currently exists. We live vicariously, through the Americans.

Canadians don't want a warlike, aggressive nation. They want their nation to participate if necessary, but to participate quietly. War movies and television series are not our style.

_Nicholas Hirst is CEO of Winnipeg-based television and film producer Original Pictures Inc._


----------



## Blackadder1916 (1 Dec 2007)

An interesting read, the line that most caught my attention being: 





> So why doesn't my company, Original Pictures, make an Afghanistan series or war movie? The only answer is that *we don't think it would sell or be watched in sufficient numbers*.



To judge the credentials of the writer and his company, go to the Original Pictures website.  They did one production that was sort of a "war" movie.


> A Bear Named Winnie
> Two hour movie produced with Power TV of the UK for CBC. The story of Lieutenant Harry Colebourn, a Winnipeg veterinary soldier in the First World War who buys the bear cub which is to become the source for the Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne.
> 
> This movie aired on CBC in December 2004 to 1.4 million viewers, one of the best audiences of the year or since.


----------

