A Passage to Ottawa

I was lucky enough to attend the premiere of this film. I went to the screening with no expectations and was thrilled by my viewing experience. Passage to Ottawa is a beautiful story about multiculturalism, love and the search for a hero. This film also challenges the typical stereotypes of what a hero is. This film is also a wonderful aesthetic journey full of vibrant colours and characters. Warning: you may want to have some orange crush on hand. I left this film craving a glass.

It was a pleasure watching this charming and heartwarming film. I went to see it without really knowing anything about it and found myself falling in love with the movie from the very beginning. It has such a simple yet emotionally satisfying premise - a young boy searching for a hero to save his dying mother. The young actor made all the difference. Besides his personal charisma and cuteness he also happens to be a real natural, effortlessly performing in from of a camera. This goes for the rest of the cast too. It's just amazing how such a small film with unknown cast and crew can create such a beautiful movie.

A gem of a film!

The cinematography on this film is outstanding; it really showcases Ottawa beautifully. The director was excellent. Although the female lead actor was not always believable, most of the other actors were. The plot of this film was a balance between the predictable and the unexpected. The ending is great. All in all, I was very impressed with this low-budget Canadian-made film. The producers should applaud themselves. You do us Canadians proud. We need more good Canadian films.

The leading boy in the film was great -- very cute, adorable, and a good actor too. The plot had interesting undertones and provided a glimpse into new Canadians' lives.

I would recommend it for families, the young and the young at heart. Go with minimal expectations and you will be delightfully surprised.

As you may notice, I'm writing this short review from Ottawa, Canada's Capital. Unlike New York, London or Toronto, it's not often that my home town has a starring role in a movie, so that was perhaps my main attraction to this film.

The story and quality of acting is at "The Game Has Been Rained Out, So Here's a Movie" level. Everything is competent, but not exceptional. The story-line moves along well enough, until near the end where I found it began to take some leaps in logic.

The story deals with a young boy trying to understand his mother's illness, and look for ways to save her, by finding a superhero to bring home to make her well again. The unlikely superhero is the unlikely captain of a tourist cruise boat, who falls in love with the young boys cousin. It deals with issues of race and culture and family.

Without my bias in favour of Ottawa, I'd give this movie a 5.5 out of 10 stars, but if you want to see some awesome scenery, Ottawa can't be beat.

A seven-year-old boy, Omi is sent from India to live with an Uncle in Ottawa. Nobody is told that his mother is dying. The teenage daughter of the family, Safia is given the task of watching over Omi. On one of their outings, Amy meets a black man, Roland, who is a tour guide in his thirties, and they become romantically involved. Omi is convinced that Roland is a superhero, who will save his mother and bring her to Ottawa, so he assists with their clandestine meetings.

The acting is in the low-key, naturalistic, Canadian style, which keeps a very light mood to the drama. The characters are interesting and endearing but are not fully developed. The film is quite enjoyable but not memorable.