Famous for the creation of tragic and intense protagonists, writer and director Paul Schrader seems to have made films where the hero is always outnumbered by the society around him that is corrupt and vile. His last film, Master Gardener was for the most part in line with this trend, until the very end when there are no more pessimistic perspectives that seem to dominate the film. Instead, it presented the possibility of a more optimistic world, one that gives room for hope which introduces a remarkable change into the approach of the famous septuagenarian filmmaker.
With this change in his approach and style, I was fascinated at the image of Paul following up Master Gardener with Oh, Canada, a film that is quite pleasing to the eyes, but with a much darker theme as it emphasizes on a legacy and resurrection of sorts. One cannot help but interpret this film as a sort of personal biography of the life that the director lived and his contributions to the film industry.
Leonard Fife (Richard Gere) is an exceptional individual who is loved by a mass of fans. He crossed borders to Canada at a young age to escape the Vietnam draft. He was revered for his cowardice and spent the next few decades as a communist supporter in Canada. Even in those times, he had established himself as a prominent documentary filmmaker with many successful movies to his credit.
As the action unfolds, Leonard is almost at the end of his road and his cancer has spread all over his body. At this point, he is on a palliative regimen with his wife, Emma (Uma Thurman), standing guard over him. Things become rather messy when Canada’s answer to Ken Burns two of Leonard’s students from film school come to interview Leonard about his films and his life.
Leonard is not in any physical condition to sit through two days’ worth of interviews, and yet he is determined to go through with it. He puts himself in dangerous situations by resolving to tell the world his life story and, in the process, expose some sordid details he had long since chosen to forget. As Leonard puts his cards on the table, his wife, Emma, as well as the film crew, begin to wonder whether he indeed is telling the truth or he simply is a great man with weaknesses the world doesn’t know.
Combining different storylines at once seems to be an original style of storytelling for Oh, Canada, which begins with the present and soon splits in Leonard’s memories at various intervals. The film is poorly edited since its pace remains unsettled and unpredictable because of the locky and convoluted style. While this technique might be used to represent the struggle of recalling faded memories, it only results in a documentary that is disorganized and feels scattered.
The past invites us to remember a Leonard who is young, played by Jacob Elordi, while Gere occasionally takes up the role of the younger Leonard himself. Additionally, Leonard’s memory is very vivid on screen as he uses both black and white color schemes along with different aspect ratios throughout the film.
The problem is that he is also a writer with a flawed perspective. His mind is turned into a mess thanks to medication and the years that have beaten him up; there isn’t certainty about what is hallucination and what has actually transpired. Is all of this a preemptive attempt at repentance meant for when he is about to die. Or are these the last words of a bitter man trying to make sense of life one last time?
Oh, Canada captured my attention and I expected it to be the latest installment in Schrader’s filmography. However, my experience at the theater was bittersweet. I then left the theater, and had to sit and think about the emotions it stirred up inside me why did I feel this way towards the film? It’s to say the film is true but at the same time, it is vacant.
Seeing this film in relation to other works from his career is particularly intriguing. It’s an interesting film on Leonard’s ideas of his identity and the reconciliation of how he perceives himself compared to others. Such ideas are particularly interesting, but Oh, Canada’s clumsy and fragmentary execution makes it hard to engage where the plot and the characters do not come alive.
For more movies visit 123Movies.