Alex
One Week -- Is Canada God?
Posted on: 12/29/2009 19:39
I was home in bed, sick, and I needed something to watch. Having cancelled my cable TV a few years ago, I decided to give Itune movies a try and I found One Week.. It appealed to me as it was the story of one week in Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) life. A Toronto man in his mid twenties engaged to be married, just starting out in his career as a teacher and writer. The film starts with him being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that is in stage 4. With treatment the Doctor gives him a 10% chance of beating it.
This is a story I could relate to. I too had been diagnosed with a terminal illness in my mid twenties and I had never seen a film that explores the reaction to a " grim diagnoses" Sure there are other disease movies, but not one that limits itself to what happens to someone in the week following the diagnoses. As well being diagnosed with a terminal illness in your twenties is a strange and difficult experience. One is just old enough to begin to understand the challenges and promises of life, but not old enough to have significant life experience. So in reflecting on one's life, you are largely limited to your childhood and youth.
Unlike Ben, my doctor gave me no hope of surviving, but his diagnoses would affect him in ways mine did to me, as it was unlikely he would survive. So I was eager to see how they told Ben's story.
One Week does a good job of exploring the many emotions and changes in understanding that Ben experiences. All of Ben's feelings, reactions and thoughts ring true to me. From the opening scene where it shows him shooting himself in the head, (a way of showing how such news can really blow your mind), while simultaneously Ben is relieved that he has a good excuse to get out of work. To the end of the week where he can catch a small glimpse of spirit, beauty and life, after dealing with so much pain.
Ben decides to delay getting treatment. He buys a motorcycle to on a road trip after he gets a message in his roll up the rim Tim Horton cup to go west..
The trip is his journey to find purpose, God, and meaning in life.
What is weird about the film is that it uses everything Canadian that it can to tell his story, like the last time the Maple Leafs won the cup, and meeting a First Nations women who he makes love with and sings the French Canadian folk song "Un Canadien errant" (a wandering Canadian) .
The film is so full of wildlife and panoramic scenes that you will want to use the film to show people the beauty of our country. I have never seen a movie with so much Canadiana. It could have been a ad for Tourism Canada, however what would have been otherwise a groan because it was overdone, works well as a counterbalance to the serious nature of Ben's road trip.
The people he meets along the way are also representative of the beauty of Canada and it's diversity.
Newfoundlanders, as is often their lot in Canadian films, provide a light moment when Ben meets two from the Island in Paris Sound. During a night of drinking they had bet their friends a case of beer, that they could bike across Canada for under 400$. They are doing this with cheap Canadian Tire Bikes. When the bikes breakdown, they just return them to a Canadian Tire to exchange for free new bikes. The Newfoundlanders are looking for a Canadian Tire when they approach Ben. The story convinces Ben to continue on with his journey.
Ben is an agnostic who has struggled with the concept of God and all things spiritual.By the end of his week, he arrives in Tofino, British Columbia, and finally realises he has caught a glimpse of Grumps (a metaphor for God) . This happens when he has run out of land and is paddling west on a surfboard on the Pacific.
The film throughout presents us with a process relational theology similar to the one held by a growing number of United Church of Canada members and others.
We see many times how humans are connected to others and the film proclaims that God is everywhere in Canada, to the point where it seems the film is saying Canada is God.
I found myself telling Ben during the film, "Look, can't you see God/Grumps, Grumps is everywhere you go."
Like I did, Ben discovers that his biggest problem is not his illness, but that he had not fully embraced life and realised the totality of the gift that his life. This was due to childhood experiences that taught him to not trust his own abilities.
I highly recommend this film to everyone. Watch it on Itunes, or wait till it is on the CBC, but don't miss this great Canadian film.
Trailer for One Week
From my Blog, I thought I would repost it here.
Comments
Alex
Posted on: 12/30/2009 10:53
Un Canadien errant is a song I had not been aware of before I saw One Week. It is something I can strongly identify with. Above in my first post is a link to the scene in the movie where it is sung. Below is a version by Nana Mouskouri.
From Wikipedia
"Un Canadien errant" ("a wandering Canadian") is a song written in 1842 by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-1838. Some of the rebels were condemned to death, others exiled to the United States . Gérin-Lajoie wrote the song, about the pain of exile, while taking his classical exams at Nicolet. The song has become a patriotic anthem for Canadians who, at different times in history, have experienced the pain of exile. In addition to those exiled following the Lower Canada Rebellion, it has had particular importance for the rebels of the Upper Canada Rebellion and for the Acadiens who suffered mass deportation from their homeland in the Great Upheaval between 1755-1763. The Acadien version is known as "Un Acadien errant."
Un Canadien Errant sung by Nana Mouskouri
English Translation
ninjafaery
Posted on: 12/31/2009 11:09
Hi Alex. Usually, when it comes to movies, I have a really short attention span. I forget most of them (even if I enjoyed it) after seeing them and don't bother to watch it again.
One Week is the best movie I"ve seen in years. I concur. I recommend renting it.
Maybe it's that loss felt by my exiled Acadian ancestors that makes me feel such love for this amazing place. I'm grateful daily to live here in Canada.
JRT
Posted on: 12/31/2009 09:21
No, Canada is not God but he can be reached here without long distance charges.
Arminius
Posted on: 12/31/2009 12:59
Hi JRT:
Canada may not be God, but Canada is Good.
Pretty good, anyway.
And, if goodliness is next to godliness, Canada is pretty godly, too.