- Reaction score
- 5,527
- Points
- 1,360
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/250135
DOCUMENTARY DEBUTS IN MONTREAL
Film sheds light on hardship military families face
MONTREAL–Documentary filmmaker Claire Corriveau calls them "the invisible and the silent" of Canadian military life, and never planned to be counted among their number.
While in her early 20s, Corriveau fell in love with a commercial pilot who, after three years of marriage, opted to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force because of a dearth of flying jobs in the private sector.
"It was the 1980s, and there were no jobs in aviation. ... The first time he asked me (to join the Canadian Forces), I said no. Then he asked again, and I eventually just said `fine,'" said Corriveau, a radio and television journalist who lives in the Ottawa region.
The adjustment to military life was harsh for Corriveau, who found it difficult to establish a career at Radio-Canada while having to relocate seemingly every two years.
In 2003, while her husband was in the Persian Gulf on a six-month tour of duty, Corriveau hit bottom.
"I was living by myself in Winnipeg; it was hard to be so far away from home, from my family, my culture," said Corriveau, who, along with her husband, hails from Montmagny, in eastern Quebec. "I felt alone in the world. That's when I really decided to do this project, and I realized there are thousands of women just like me."
The project in question took three years to complete, and the result is Les épouses de l'armée (known as Nomad's Land in English), a 52-minute National Film Board documentary that will debut this week in competition at Montreal's Festival des films du monde.
The film, Corriveau's first, explores the difficulties faced by military spouses and families, and solitude is a central theme in the series of startlingly candid accounts.
"I felt like I was alone on a desert island," Mélanie Tanguay says of the first time her husband, Alexandre, shipped out for a six-month overseas deployment. "Living alone with my 8-month-old daughter in a place where I have no friends to speak of, no family, a job I hate."
Another woman, who calculates her husband has been on missions, training or business trips for eight of the 19 years they've been married, said that while the absences are difficult, the return of soldiers from combat zones presents an equally trying set of problems as families try to regain their balance.
Several women describe a lack of resources and support, suggesting that many of the Canadian Forces' efforts at helping families are deficient and aimed primarily at making the soldiers' lives easier.
"Family members are relevant only insofar as they are members of the organization," says sociologist Deborah Harrison, one of the few academics to study military families, and who is heard in the film.
The documentary centres on a half-dozen women – primarily francophones who feel doubly isolated in a working universe that is largely English speaking – and its release coincides with the large-scale deployment of Quebec-based troops to Afghanistan.
Corriveau said her film isn't intended to be a political statement, although it's clear that many of her interview subjects feel a heavier than usual sense of foreboding at the prospect of their loved ones going to Afghanistan.
The documentary is a compelling account with wrenching testimonials, but it asks more questions than it answers about the basic compatibility of the Canadian Forces, family, and individual freedoms.
"I think the idea is to engage a reflection about militarism in this country, and the effects it has on families... but my job is to ask the questions, not answer them," said Corriveau, who is working on an English-language version of the film.
The documentary also breaks through the culture of stoicism that generally pervades military circles, where duty-bound wives and husbands seldom complain publicly about the hardships of army life.
Corriveau said that's less a function of her interview method and filmmaking skills – she simply turned the camera on and let the women tell their stories without interruption – than it is of the fact "no one has bothered" to ask the women how the military lifestyle affects them.
A military official interviewed in the film points out that the overwhelming majority of spouses and children of the armed forces cope well with the fraught nature of deployments overseas and the inherent dangers of the soldiering trade.
He brushes off the difficulties detailed by some as "a minority" and "exceptional cases" – a conclusion disputed in the film.
EDIT: changed thread title
DOCUMENTARY DEBUTS IN MONTREAL
Film sheds light on hardship military families face
MONTREAL–Documentary filmmaker Claire Corriveau calls them "the invisible and the silent" of Canadian military life, and never planned to be counted among their number.
While in her early 20s, Corriveau fell in love with a commercial pilot who, after three years of marriage, opted to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force because of a dearth of flying jobs in the private sector.
"It was the 1980s, and there were no jobs in aviation. ... The first time he asked me (to join the Canadian Forces), I said no. Then he asked again, and I eventually just said `fine,'" said Corriveau, a radio and television journalist who lives in the Ottawa region.
The adjustment to military life was harsh for Corriveau, who found it difficult to establish a career at Radio-Canada while having to relocate seemingly every two years.
In 2003, while her husband was in the Persian Gulf on a six-month tour of duty, Corriveau hit bottom.
"I was living by myself in Winnipeg; it was hard to be so far away from home, from my family, my culture," said Corriveau, who, along with her husband, hails from Montmagny, in eastern Quebec. "I felt alone in the world. That's when I really decided to do this project, and I realized there are thousands of women just like me."
The project in question took three years to complete, and the result is Les épouses de l'armée (known as Nomad's Land in English), a 52-minute National Film Board documentary that will debut this week in competition at Montreal's Festival des films du monde.
The film, Corriveau's first, explores the difficulties faced by military spouses and families, and solitude is a central theme in the series of startlingly candid accounts.
"I felt like I was alone on a desert island," Mélanie Tanguay says of the first time her husband, Alexandre, shipped out for a six-month overseas deployment. "Living alone with my 8-month-old daughter in a place where I have no friends to speak of, no family, a job I hate."
Another woman, who calculates her husband has been on missions, training or business trips for eight of the 19 years they've been married, said that while the absences are difficult, the return of soldiers from combat zones presents an equally trying set of problems as families try to regain their balance.
Several women describe a lack of resources and support, suggesting that many of the Canadian Forces' efforts at helping families are deficient and aimed primarily at making the soldiers' lives easier.
"Family members are relevant only insofar as they are members of the organization," says sociologist Deborah Harrison, one of the few academics to study military families, and who is heard in the film.
The documentary centres on a half-dozen women – primarily francophones who feel doubly isolated in a working universe that is largely English speaking – and its release coincides with the large-scale deployment of Quebec-based troops to Afghanistan.
Corriveau said her film isn't intended to be a political statement, although it's clear that many of her interview subjects feel a heavier than usual sense of foreboding at the prospect of their loved ones going to Afghanistan.
The documentary is a compelling account with wrenching testimonials, but it asks more questions than it answers about the basic compatibility of the Canadian Forces, family, and individual freedoms.
"I think the idea is to engage a reflection about militarism in this country, and the effects it has on families... but my job is to ask the questions, not answer them," said Corriveau, who is working on an English-language version of the film.
The documentary also breaks through the culture of stoicism that generally pervades military circles, where duty-bound wives and husbands seldom complain publicly about the hardships of army life.
Corriveau said that's less a function of her interview method and filmmaking skills – she simply turned the camera on and let the women tell their stories without interruption – than it is of the fact "no one has bothered" to ask the women how the military lifestyle affects them.
A military official interviewed in the film points out that the overwhelming majority of spouses and children of the armed forces cope well with the fraught nature of deployments overseas and the inherent dangers of the soldiering trade.
He brushes off the difficulties detailed by some as "a minority" and "exceptional cases" – a conclusion disputed in the film.
EDIT: changed thread title
