The premise:
Robert Cohen sets out to learn more about his country of Canada and to show the world a bit about who we are by filming as he travels from one coast to the other on a whirlwind tour.
A fine idea if you actually took the time to go to every province and territory! He skips PEI, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the ENTIRE NORTH, and for the provinces he does visit, I didn't learn a thing. I'm a proud Canadian and yes I too am irritated and dismayed by those moments we have all had with (ignorant) people from other continents who seem to think Canada looks like the area by the wall in Game of Thrones or like the Americans (inexcusably ignorant since they're our neighbours!) who ask us stupid stuff like the woman in the laundromat I met just across the US/Canada border on a camping trip once who found out I was from Canada and asked me "Do you hunt?" Me: "No, definitely not." Her looking shocked/confused: "Well how do you get your meat???" Me, resisting an eye roll:"If I ate meat, I would just go to Safeway or somewhere." Her, now really surprised, "Wow, y'all have supermarkets up there!" Me: ..... Polite smile.... "Yeah, but just 2."
Of course in touristy shops there are the usual culprits: beavers, moose, totem poles, Mounties, maple syrup & plaid fleece, but surely a movie that's supposed to show a wider view of our multicultural country that's more "mosaic" than "melting pot" should work a little harder not to reinforce some of the stereotypes he's supposed to dispel (and yes, it could be done through comedy!) ZERO mention of the First Nations! NOTHING about our urban culture or musicians, artists, athletes, scientists, dancers (Royal Wpg. Ballet, Cirque du Soleil, or Spandy Andy :D) And our history didn't start with Confederation.
Okay, on occasion, there's snow in May in some parts of the country but not in Ottawa in June!
True, he's right that we do seem to have a lot of comedians and it was great to see some of them (mostly why I kept watching until the end) and I did like the theories presented about why Canadian humour is unique and what makes us funny.
Another part when he talks about what is typical Canadian food he seems to disbelieve that the answer truly is a wonderful mixture of many flavours. Poutine is the pat answer for what's a typical dish since you now find it almost anywhere in Canada in some form (Merci, Quebec!) but even in smaller cities you can often find amazing curries, weird and wonderful fusions of several types of cuisine, or great hearty home-cooked meals served in humble locations that feature foods that rival the quality from the country they originated from. We Canadians like our food!
Ok, to be fair there are a couple of funny moments, some of the comments were a bit deeper (Geddy Lee & Kim Campbell) and I wanted to like this movie, I wanted to laugh (maybe self-deprecatingly!) but I was more irritated and indignant afterwards just like some of the other reviewers from Canada.
To sum it up if someone was to determine what ice cream flavour represents Canada based upon this film they would likely choose vanilla and that is probably what they'd have said BEFORE watching it too.
A fine idea if you actually took the time to go to every province and territory! He skips PEI, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, the ENTIRE NORTH, and for the provinces he does visit, I didn't learn a thing. I'm a proud Canadian and yes I too am irritated and dismayed by those moments we have all had with (ignorant) people from other continents who seem to think Canada looks like the area by the wall in Game of Thrones or like the Americans (inexcusably ignorant since they're our neighbours!) who ask us stupid stuff like the woman in the laundromat I met just across the US/Canada border on a camping trip once who found out I was from Canada and asked me "Do you hunt?" Me: "No, definitely not." Her looking shocked/confused: "Well how do you get your meat???" Me, resisting an eye roll:"If I ate meat, I would just go to Safeway or somewhere." Her, now really surprised, "Wow, y'all have supermarkets up there!" Me: ..... Polite smile.... "Yeah, but just 2."
Of course in touristy shops there are the usual culprits: beavers, moose, totem poles, Mounties, maple syrup & plaid fleece, but surely a movie that's supposed to show a wider view of our multicultural country that's more "mosaic" than "melting pot" should work a little harder not to reinforce some of the stereotypes he's supposed to dispel (and yes, it could be done through comedy!) ZERO mention of the First Nations! NOTHING about our urban culture or musicians, artists, athletes, scientists, dancers (Royal Wpg. Ballet, Cirque du Soleil, or Spandy Andy :D) And our history didn't start with Confederation.
Okay, on occasion, there's snow in May in some parts of the country but not in Ottawa in June!
True, he's right that we do seem to have a lot of comedians and it was great to see some of them (mostly why I kept watching until the end) and I did like the theories presented about why Canadian humour is unique and what makes us funny.
Another part when he talks about what is typical Canadian food he seems to disbelieve that the answer truly is a wonderful mixture of many flavours. Poutine is the pat answer for what's a typical dish since you now find it almost anywhere in Canada in some form (Merci, Quebec!) but even in smaller cities you can often find amazing curries, weird and wonderful fusions of several types of cuisine, or great hearty home-cooked meals served in humble locations that feature foods that rival the quality from the country they originated from. We Canadians like our food!
Ok, to be fair there are a couple of funny moments, some of the comments were a bit deeper (Geddy Lee & Kim Campbell) and I wanted to like this movie, I wanted to laugh (maybe self-deprecatingly!) but I was more irritated and indignant afterwards just like some of the other reviewers from Canada.
To sum it up if someone was to determine what ice cream flavour represents Canada based upon this film they would likely choose vanilla and that is probably what they'd have said BEFORE watching it too.