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Portraits (20)
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The Battle of the ChâteauguayMarcel Carrière 1978 29 minThe Battle of Châteauguay, fought in 1813 to push back American troops invading Canada, is recounted in this dramatic short film by the hero of the battle, Lt-Col. Charles-Michel de Salaberry.
Recreated battle scenes illustrate de Salaberry's military strategy, while animation is used to relate the events leading up to this important battle (the French and American revolutions, the reign of Napoleon, the naval battles between the English and the Americans, and Yankee expansionist policies).
A lively history film, it provides an unusual look at the War of 1812. -
Canada at War, Part 2: Blitzkrieg1962 27 minApril - November 1940. With devastating speed Germany takes Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Italy declares war. The British withdraw from Dunkirk. Mackenzie King feels the Canadian pulse on conscription. England is strafed by the Luftwaffe, and Britons accept Churchill's challenge of 'blood, sweat and tears.'
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Death by Moonlight: Bomber CommandBrian McKenna 1991 1 h 44 minThis feature-length documentary focuses on the Canadian pilots who served in the air force bomber command in Britain during World War II. From the outset, it was clear to Britain that air combat would be the key factor in the battle against Hitler's Germany. Told they would be targeting factories and military targets, the airmen were actually ordered to drop their payloads on civilians in an attempt to annihilate the enemy. Using interviews, re-enactments, old footage and photographs, Brian McKenna's film depicts the war from the perspective of the pilots.
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Gene Boy Came HomeAlanis Obomsawin 2007 24 minThis short documentary by celebrated filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin is a portrait of Eugene "Gene Boy" (pronounced Genie Boy) Benedict, from Odanak Indian Reserve (near Montreal, Quebec). At 17, he enlisted in the US Marines and was sent to the frontlines of the Vietnam War. This film is the account of his 2 years of service and his long journey back to Odanak afterwards.
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Georges P. Vanier: Soldier, Diplomat, Governor GeneralClément Perron 1960 29 minThis short documentary looks at Governor General Georges Vanier: his military service in two world wars, his diplomatic service between the wars and his investiture as Canada's 19th Governor General.
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If You Love This PlanetTerre Nash 1982 25 minThe NFB’s 7th Academy-Award winning film. This short film is comprised of a lecture given to students by outspoken nuclear critic Dr. Helen Caldicott, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the USA. Her message is clear: disarmament cannot be postponed. Archival footage of the bombing of Hiroshima and images of its survivors seven months after the attack heighten the urgency of her message.
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In God's CommandGarth Pritchard 1995 47 minThis documentary introduces us to Captain Mark Sargent, chaplain to the Canadian peacekeepers (soldiers of the First Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) stationed in former Yugoslavia. It offers an intimate look at the work of this remarkable man as he travels from bunker to bunker and from village to village, ministering to soldiers and civilians caught in the bloody conflict that has torn apart the Balkans.
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John McCrae's War: In Flanders FieldsRobert Duncan 1998 46 minThis feature documentary profiles poet John McCrae, from his childhood in Ontario to his years in medicine at McGill University and the WWI battlefields of Belgium, where he cared for wounded soldiers. Generations of schoolchildren have recited McCrae’s iconic poem “In Flanders Fields,” but McCrae and Alexis Helmer—the young man whose death inspired the poem—have faded from memory. This film seeks to revive their stories through a vivid portrait of a great man in Canadian history.
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The Kid Who Couldn't MissPaul Cowan 1982 1 h 19 minPaul Cowan's feature-length film combines fiction and reality to tell the story of how William Avery (Billy) Bishop became one of the leading fighter pilots of World War I. By no accounts a biography of Billy Bishop, the film uses a 'docu-drama' approach to show how one person goes from being a brash kid from Ontario to Canada's most decorated military figure.
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My WarJulien Fréchette 2018 1 h 37 minA disturbing portrait of four Western volunteers who risk their lives to fight ISIS alongside Kurdish forces. The feature documentary My War probes the complex motives behind the need to take up arms on someone else’s behalf.
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The Pacifist Who Went to WarDavid Neufeld 2002 51 minThis documentary is the story of two Mennonite brothers from Manitoba who were forced to make a decision in 1939, as Canada joined World War II. In the face of 400 years of pacifist tradition, should they now go to war? Ted became a conscientious objector while his brother went into military service. Fifty years later, the town of Winkler dedicates its first war memorial and John begins to share his war experiences with Ted.
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Robert Baldwin: A Matter of PrincipleJohn Howe 1961 31 minThis film is a reconstruction of Robert Baldwin’s involvement in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Though bound to the cause of constitutional reform by principle, Baldwin’s heart was with the rebels and in the midst of armed revolt, he withdrew to fight a lonely battle with himself.
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Raymond Klibansky: From Philosophy to LifeAnne-Marie Tougas 2002 50 minThe filmmaker did not suspect that meeting a philosopher would have such a profound effect. It compelled her to shed light on the exceptional life of Raymond Klibansky, his uncommon destiny and his path to humanity. As a German Jewish philosopher of action, he lived in times of upheaval, war and hate. As a young man, he moved in the circles of Karl Jaspers, Erwin Panofsky, Marianne Weber, Ernst Cassirer and Albert Enstein. Early in his career, he made his mark as a historian of ideas and a philosopher, and his work was known around the world. Then came the Nazi lie, which he condemned and, better yet, fought. In the prime of his life, he was Chief Intelligence Officer in the British Secret Service during World War Two. He moved to Montreal in 1946, where he has continued to promote tolerance and fight for freedom on all fronts.
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Rosies of the NorthKelly Saxberg 1999 46 minThey raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.
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The Strangest DreamEric Bednarski 2008 1 h 29 minThis is the story of Joseph Rotblat, the only nuclear scientist to leave the Manhattan Project, the U.S. government’s secret program to build the first atomic bomb. His was a decision based on moral grounds.
The film retraces the history of nuclear weapons, from the first test in New Mexico, to Hiroshima, where we see survivors of the first atomic attack. Branded a traitor and spy, Rotblat went from designing atomic bombs to researching the medical uses of radiation. Together with Bertrand Russell he helped create the modern peace movement, and eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Featuring interviews with contemporaries of Rotblat and passionate public figures including Senator Roméo Dallaire, The Strangest Dream demonstrates the renewed threat of nuclear weapons and encourages hope through the example of morally engaged scientists and citizens. -
Speaking Our PeaceTerre Nash & Bonnie Sherr Klein 1985 55 minFilmed in Canada, Britain and the U.S.S.R., this hour-long documentary focuses on local and international peace initiatives by women. Featured in the film are Rosalie Bertell, Marion Dewar, Muriel Duckworth, Ursula M. Franklin, Darlene Keju, Margaret Laurence, Solanges Vincent and Kathleen Wallace-Deering. In interviews and in encounters with Soviet women, they outline their views on war and peace. The film includes scenes of women in mass demonstrations at Litton Systems Canada and at Greenham Common in England, as well as footage of ordinary citizens who must live with the health and environmental problems caused by uranium mining and nuclear weapons testing.
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Soraida, a Woman of PalestineTahani Rached 2004 1 h 59 minThis feature-length film introduces viewers to Soraida, a Palestinian woman who lives in Ramallah. In her neighbourhood the women do not all wear veils, the men do not rattle off empty political slogans, the young people do not strap bombs to their belts, and the children play together like kids everywhere. Taking us into the daily existence of Soraida, her family and neighbours, the film compels us to ask fundamental questions about life in the Middle East.
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Unwanted SoldiersJari Osborne 1999 48 minThis documentary tells the personal story of filmmaker Jari Osborne's father, a Chinese-Canadian veteran. She describes her father's involvement in World War II and uncovers a legacy of discrimination and racism against British Columbia's Chinese-Canadian community. Sworn to secrecy for decades, Osborne's father and his war buddies now vividly recall their top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia. Theirs is a tale of young men proudly fighting for a country that had mistreated them. This film does more than reveal an important period in Canadian history. It pays moving tribute to a father's quiet heroism.
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A Writer in the Nuclear Age: A Conversation with Margaret LaurenceTerre Nash 1985 9 minIn this short film, internationally acclaimed author Margaret Laurence passionately addresses several issues related to peace: the social responsibility of the writer; language usage and reality; jargon and "newspeak"; imagination, meaning and understanding; the nuclear threat; world leadership; the role of empathy in communication; the distinctions between fiction and didactic writing; and the power of "ordinary" people to influence events. The film's scope makes this an excellent discussion starter in diverse subject areas.
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Wolfe and MontcalmAllan Wargon 1957 29 minThis short film recreates the tense hours before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and then the battle itself in which both generals, Wolfe and Montcalm, were fatally wounded.
