Canadian Armed Forces on film and TV...

[thewatchmaker]

Hi everyone. I'm a grad student and I'm researching representations of the CAF in popular culture since the beginning of the Somalia mission. I was wondering if anyone could help me in compiling my list.

My focus is on Canadian produced film and TV (though I'm going to look at some prominent appearances of the CAF in American film, too) and what I'm particularly interested in is fictionalized or dramatized non-fiction - so documentaries don't fit the bill but, say, Spottiswoode's 'Shake Hands with the Devil' with Roy Dupuis does. My hunch is that these representations say more about what it means to be Canadian, with more abstract ideas of Canadian character and patriotism, than they do about the CAF.

The range of programs I'm looking for is pretty diverse - anything from films like 'Passchendaele' that revolve around soldiers to, say, the appearance of a soldier on a single episode of 'Trailer Park Boys'. This is what I've put together thus far:

FILMS
Dieppe (1993)
For the Moment (1993)
The War Between Us (1995)
The English Patient (1996) - admittedly borderline - a non-Canadian film included only because of Ondaatje's involvement
Eighteen (2005)
Above and Beyond (2006)
Shake Hands with the Devil (2007)
Passchendaele (2008)

TV
The Border (Mike Kessler; episode 1.3)
Flashpoint (Sam Braddock)
ZOS: Zone of Separation

I'm considering devoting a section to satiric and comedic takes on the CAF, too, since it seems like appearances on The Mercer Report, This Hour has 22 Minutes, and Air Farce are probably the most prominent and most watched of any CAF appearances in Canadian pop media - so if you can recall any particularly memorable skits or segments, that would be helpful. (Following the same logic, it seems to me that Don Cherry needs to be addressed in here, somewhere, though I haven't quite figured out how.)

I'd also like to hear about any non film and TV material that people find interesting or important. (ie. Afghanada, Somalia Yellow, the re-staged Billy Bishop Goes to War)

As for non-Canadian takes on the CAF, it's very easy to find Canadian characters in very old films (Plummer in The Battle of Britain, Bogart in The African Queen, Olivier in The 49th Parallel) but my list from the past 15 years is very short: I have Hotel Rwanda, of course, and the appearance of JTF2 in Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6, but not much beyond that.

Thanks, everyone, for any help you can lend me. I can't promise anything more than goodwill and a brief thank you in my acknowledgments section, but hopefully that's enough. 

 

[Occam]

"Ordeal in the Arctic" (1993) - about the 1991 crash of Boxtop 22 enroute to Alert.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107754/

 

[dapaterson]

CBC TV Movie -  The Peacekeepers, 1997.  http://www.pulpanddagger.com/movies/p_b.html

 

[dapaterson]

I'd argue that documentaries are also part and parcel of popular culture, and definitely push particular portrayals ("What is truth?")

If you are willing to look at documentaries, there's also a 1995 NFB film titled "The Price of Duty" - http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=32900.  The director, Garth Pritchard, has done a number of other documentaries on the CF.

 

[thewatchmaker]

Wow - talk about some fast replies!

dapaterson: Of course, docs are popular culture, but the 'truth' that they explore is very different from the 'truth' that I want to look at. Dramatic war and military films tend to speak a sort of metaphoric truth that may have little to do with the specific encounter that's dramatized - take Apocalypse Now as a particularly extreme example of a film that is usually analyzed in very poetic ways that have little to do with the Vietnam War. Documentary films, on the other hand, tend to be meaningful in very literal ways - a documentary about the Canadian mission to Somalia is exactly that. Docs can also lead down to getting bogged down on the issue of accuracy, and while that's a topic I'll have to deal with regardless it's a much more problematic one for documentaries. I don't doubt that these docs are important, but they would require a very different approach - and I can only keep so many balls in the air at one time.

 

[dapaterson]

I don't doubt that these docs are important, but they would require a very different approach - and I can only keep so many balls in the air at one time.

True enough.  (I once wrote a history paper on pop culture portrayals of China in the '60s and '70s - hello, Romulans and Uncle Duke).  I will give the Mark I head unit a few more shakes to see if I can recall any other non-documentaries.

One question for clarification - are you looking at literature as well?  That widens the scope.

 

[thewatchmaker]

One question for clarification - are you looking at literature as well?

Nope, no literature. (Except indirectly, perhaps, in terms of books that have been adapted or that are being alluded or replied to by the films.) It's akin to the drama/doc split: books would require a very different approach and attract a very different - more educated, more interested, more engaged - audience, and accounting for all those things would double the size of my project.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Though it predates your desired timeline by a couple of years, there was a 1991 episode of the CBC series "Street Legal" in which ". . .Leon represents a military man who refused to obey orders for reasons of conscience . . ." .  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0711359/

It most likely had some official CF support as some of the locations for the 'on base' scenes appeared to be on DND property (or at least triggered some recognition of the locales on my part).  Plus most of the (mainly background) performers actually wore their berets correctly - something rarely seen in film and TV productions.  I suspect that many of the extras were serving members and were wearing their own uniforms due to the appearance of correct insignia and regimental brass.  However, the premise of the story line was somewhat flawed.

 

[Danjanou]

IIRC the Willem Dafoe character in The English Patient was Canadian

Of course you missed the big budget Legends of the Fall, which has a WW1 CEGF Connection http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110322/

Other peripheral (stretching it ) characters/films would be the 2005 remake of Colditz with Jason Priestly playing an RCAF POW http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415407/

Billy Zane playing a Canadian Sgt in The Last Drop a really bad low budget Kellys Hero type movie set during Market Garden http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398029/

Tom Hanks does a cameo as a RCE Officer in Band of Brothers Episode 5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1247464/

You are right though in the time period you chose the pickings are rather slim. Even go back the 1960’s and you’ll see Canadians well repesented in The Devils Brigade, The Longest Day, and The Great Escape.

Even worse than movies is the portrayal in TV series. You listed three and a search of the forums here will show some unflattering (and well deserved)comments on both The Border and ZOS.

 

[dapaterson]

If musical theatre (Billy Bishop Goes to War) is included in scope, how about music?

Great Big Sea - Recruiting Sergeant - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knxR-Q2VoBE

http://www.amazon.ca/Play-Great-Big-Sea/dp/B000007VH4/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1252509965&sr=8-14

 

[vonGarvin]

You are right though in the time period you chose the pickings are rather slim. Even go back the 1960’s and you’ll see Canadians well repesented in The Devils Brigade, The Longest Day, and The Great Escape.

Canadians are barely mentioned in the movie "The Longest Day".  Though british and US troops (and Germans!) are featured, so too are the Free French.  The Canadians?  The only time we see them is when those two German Pilots strafe the beaches, and the text refers to the two beaches being strafed, "Juno" being one of them.

 

[leroi]

thewatchmaker, here is an older 2006 thread from this forum with a similar theme which I thought you might find interesting:

Popular war movies depicting Canadian soldiers ...

 

[PMedMoe]

IIRC the Willem Dafoe character in The English Patient was Canadian

He was in the book, not so sure about the movies.  However, the nurse Hana, played by Juliette Binoche was Canadian and in a Canadian Unit.

 

[CEEBEE501]

IF you want some pop culture game references, the Rainbow teams from Tom Clancys Rainbow six series have Canadian military members. Also CADPAT is one of the available Camouflage schemes. 

(Taken from Wikipedia)

Intelligence
Joanna Torres (Canada). Joanna Torres was Alpha Team's on-sight intelligence officer, and was the one who briefed Logan Keller before each operation. It is believed that she was recruited somewhere between 2000-2008. Torres was transferred along with Logan to Bravo Team, and took over as their intelligence officer, (Bravo's original intel officer, Sharon Judd, had been wounded by a sniper during the Bravo's concurrent operation) briefing them on the situation in Vegas strip and the Nevada Dam. When the traitor Gabriel Nowak revealed himself, he took Torres and Bravo team's chopper pilot hostage, then kicked them out of the helicopter to be executed by a small group of terrorists. However, Logan and Bravo Team arrived and saved the two. Torres was heard during the last stage of Vegas 2, landing with Bravo Team to secure the villa where Nowak was hiding. Using a radio, she coordinated a SAM missile to strike the combat helicopter that was attacking Bishop, saving his life. Afterwards, she wishes Bishop good luck when he goes to confront Nowak. She is not heard of afterwards, although it is believed she is still Bravo's intel officer.


Roger McAllen (Canada, 8 FER, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Special Emergency Response Team, JTF-2). Joined the Canadian Army as a Field Engineer, 1981. Served one tour of duty, 1981-85. Received advanced training in both combat diving and explosive ordnance disposal. Upon discharge joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and in 1988 became a member of the Special Emergency Response Team (SERT), the RCMP's elite counter-terrorism unit. When SERT was disbanded in 1993, he helped coordinate the transition of counter-terrorist responsibilities to the Canadian Armed Forces' newly formed Joint Task Force Two (JTF-2). McAllen re-enlisted in 1994 and became a full member of JTF-2 the same year. He has participated in counter-terrorist actions on three continents, including the JTF-2 extended operations in 1996-97 against war criminals in Bosnia. McAllen is a specialist in multiple areas. He is an excellent shot and is extremely aggressive in combat situations, making him a good choice as a member of an assault team, but he also has extensive experience with bomb disposal and demolitions. He is an amateur power-lifter and his strength and stamina make him a formidable opponent.

 

[Kat Stevens]

He must have been quite the Uber Trooper to be ADVANCED EOD and Combat Diver after 4 years in a Reserve FER in the cash strapped early 80s.

 

[Danjanou]

He must have been quite the Uber Trooper to be ADVANCED EOD and Combat Diver after 4 years in a Reserve FER in the cash strapped early 80s.

either that or he moonlightwd here. http://www.frontiersmenhistorian.info/canada.htm  8)

As we enter into the realm of docudrama both the minis series Canada  A Peoples History http://history.cbc.ca/history/webdriver?MIval=EpisodeSum2.html&lang=E  and this http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/doczone/2009/battleforacontinent/index.html  may foot the bill.

History Channel seems rife with documentaries with re enactors CGI such as the who killed Michael Whittman one.

There is also this mini series The Arrow http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118641/