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PASSCHENDAELE (Canada)
SHOWING SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2009
6:15 pm Grand Reo Theatre, Vanderhoof
Rated 14A,114 Minutes
Director: Paul Gross, Actors: Paul Gross, Gil Bellows,
Caroline Dhavernas, Joe Dinicol
It is no overstatement to call Paul Gross a Canadian icon. An Albertan,
he has steadfastly remained in this country throughout his
career. From his roles as an actor (notably as Constable Benton
Fraser in Due South) to his work in film (he wrote, directed and
starred in Men with Brooms), Gross is one of the most recognizable
figures in Canada’s entertainment world. An advocate of Canadian
war veterans, he has often lent his voice to public service
announcements and documentaries chronicling this country’s
military history. It is greatly rewarding, then, to see his interests
and passions come together in Passchendaele, the Opening Night
Gala film at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival®.
Inspired by Gross’s relationship with his veteran grandfather,
Passchendaele revisits World War I, when Canada’s military had
some of its greatest victories and suffered its greatest human
losses. Gross stars as Sergeant Dunne, who is sent home after
sustaining injuries on the battlefield and assigned to work in Calgary
as a recruiter’s assistant. He is smitten with a young nurse,
Sarah Mann (Caroline Dhavernas, These Girls, Hollywoodland),
who has her own secrets and wishes to be left alone, despite her
growing affection for Dunne, who pursues her with the kind of
abandon that is only inspired by true love. Meanwhile, Sarah’s
asthmatic brother David (Joe Dinicol, The Virgin Suicides,
Weirdsville) is determined to go to war,. As the characters’ lives
become intertwined, the past haunts each of them while a nation’s
future hangs in the balance.
Funded in part by the Alberta government to celebrate the province’s centennial, Passchendaele’s reach extends far beyond that province’s borders. Culminating in the Battle of Passchendaele, the film takes full advantage of its luminous cast to transcend the particulars of war and embrace the universal and enduring affairs of mind, heart and country.
Read more about Passchendaele (500kb download).
Thank you to Royal Bank of Canada for sponsoring this film.
Click here to learn more.
REEL REVIEW
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“As my grandfather died, in his mind he was back in that town, trying to find a German boy whom he’d bayoneted in the forehead. He’d lived with that memory all his life – and he was of a time when people kept things to themselves. When he finally told the story, it really affected me and I’ve not been able to get it out of my head.” – Paul Gross, Now Magazine (UK)
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