H2O

After a few decent stabs at producing good Canadian movies, CBC has laboured mightily and brought forth a turkey this time. The scenario is absurd. The acting is overwrought. The production is pretentious. The facts are shaky. What is this "Canadian Federal Police?" Do they perhaps mean the RCMP? And what is this emergency power thing that this young whelp of a pm invokes. I thought it was called The War Measures Act. Nor does the office of "deputy prime minister" have any constitutional standing. He (or she) does not automatically take over as does the US vice president if the big guy dies in office. It would be a matter to be resolved by the Liberal party and/or the Governor-general. And a black US president??? Not in our lifetime! This is really a stupid movie that reflects our insecurity, our naivete and our incompetence at making movies. We're very good at snowmobiles. And beer. Not movies.

Paul Gross stars in this self-styled Canadian political thriller which aired on CBC over the past few nights. The two-part series originally aired last fall but I forgot to catch it, and heard little in its aftermath. It's a rare thing - a Canadian political thriller... I'd describe it as vaguely similar to House of Cards (the exceptional 1990 British political black comedy), with hints of the ridiculousness of Canadian Bacon and even X-Files.

Upon the death of his father, the Prime Minister in a suspicious canoeing accident, Tom McLaughlin-- a seemingly decent chap-- outwits rival and unlikeable snorer Marc Lavigne (right away, that name stuck out as bit too much like mass-murderer Marc Lepine) to become Canada's new PM. Backed by a media baron-- part of a trio of corporate bigwigs with mischievous smiles-- McLaughlin rides a wave of popularity to start hatching a subversive scheme. It becomes apparent McLaughlin is about to sell Canada down the river by exporting water through a far-fetched (or is it?) water pipeline from Northern Quebec. It's necessary, he claims, or else the increasingly parched United States will end up taking it anyway. But it turns out McLaughlin has a gun to his head, and is a mere puppet for a pseudo-Bilderberg all-powerful group of old men who control the world.

Strangely this group seems to only have the resources for one secret agent: the elusive Daniel Holt, who is everywhere and nowhere. He knocks off cops who get too close to the truth, wiretaps the Solicitor General (Lavigne), tortures wrongfully imprisoned muslims, and recruits Cree youth in Northern Quebec for devious plots.

Meanwhile, the head good cop Sgt. Leah Collins, played by Leslie Hope, is busy figuring out who Holt is and trying to establish what really happened to McLaughlin Senior during his canoeing trip 'accident'. Mild flirtations with PM Tom McLaughlin and finally a pact with Lavigne bring her closer to the truth.

The opinions we form of the various characters are in a state of flux; with the burning question being: If your neighbour were thirsty would you not give them a glass of water? It would be nicer if the plot had a smoother flow - more a Saint Lawrence than Hell's Gate. But the film editing, sound and cinematography are luscious. Night time fly-by shots of Parliament Hill are interspersed with evil looking Gargoyles and the Rideau Canal.

Gross by far steals the show, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the heck he's going to turn into John Diefenbaker in the upcoming Tommy Douglas Story.

The conclusion is unsatisfying, but it's hard to say what would have been a happy ending. It's almost as if the inevitable, the unavoidable, the manifest destiny took hold. All in all, any political nut would find this at least mildly amusing. Somehow though even with the explosions, blackouts and murders this film doesn't rate with the 2002 mini-series Trudeau.

Someone mentioned that McLaughlin could not have possibly become Prime Minister in such a short thing. Well, actually one doesn't have to even be elected to be Prime Minister, legally (remember John Turner, briefly 1984). And this movie does take place over a period of many many months. This is fiction, folks, and it's not bad. It's by no means a great film, but it's entertaining.

"H20" is a mini-series that keeps you on the edge of your seat. What Paul Gross and John Krizanc have written is a masterful addition to the political thriller genre, where the viewer never knows who is the villain and who is the good guy. Add to that a superb cast of actors (including Gross, Martha Henry, Peter MacNeill) and the cinematic eye of director Charles Biname, and you have a satisfying and intelligent piece of work. I recommend this highly: how often do you get an exciting drama that makes you think about our political system and how dependent we are on the benevolence of our neighbours to the south? Ten out of ten.

I watched this mini-series because I had seen Paul Gross in Due South and Slings and Arrows. I don't have to be a "spoiler" to say that this was a truly inane mini-series. The issue of Canada withholding water from the USA was an interesting one that was quickly and completely drowned. There was good acting but only in scenes meant to show off good acting rather than to move the plot in any understandable direction (watch the interminable "mother of the prime minister" scenes). Dissecting this misconceived film is hardly worthwhile. Canada has a fine talent in Mr. Gross, but that talent doesn't extent to script writing. H20 does not hold water.

As someone who is very fond of politics- especially Canadian politics- this film deeply troubles me.

It is the story of how the country can be bought and sold so easily. It is a warning. While extremely unlikely, this could happen. It uses characters very deliberately based on previous Canadian icons (Trudeau being the big one) to hit close to home. These people have already been in power and we never thought anything overly terrible of what they did while they were in power. This film- in a very Isaac Asimov way (though, obviously Asimov was brilliant and Gross, while a good writer, cannot compare) shows us how close we are to our greatest fears.

One day, the prime minister dies in a canoeing incident and after running and winning leadership of the party his father lead, his son takes power and starts pushing through some very aggressive legislations. Later, we find out that his father's death and that of the woman who was with him were suspicious in the extreme and we start to see little by little what's really going on, though the ending is a total shock. It is hard to describe without giving it away, so suffice it to say it uses past Canadian political experiences (the Free Trade agreement, the War Measures Act, Black October) to show how close we are to losing it all.

With outstanding direction (actually making Parliament Hill look sexy), great acting from Paul Gross, Guy Nadon and Martha Henry and a shocker ending, this is well worth watching. Especially for Canadian political junkies like me.