In part one of our Hot Docs 2011 previews, Andrew Parker takes a look at The Chocolate Farmer, The Lumberfros, and Wiebo’s War. Check back over the next few days for more previews of films playing at Hot Docs 2011.
The Chocolate Farmer
Canadian Spectrum
Director: Rohan Fernando
Rohan Fernando’s film looks the life of the many generations of the Pop family; a family that has subsisted on cocco bean farming going as far back as their Mayan roots. All of the family members to varying degrees bemoan the loss of their own culture in the name of progress. The film is based around an interesting premise despite having a slow start, but ultimately the film is just too scattershot to make any real impact. Fernando bounces from varied topics such as health care, land ownership rights, and education without really stopping to tell the audience just why they should care. A valiant attempt is made in the final ten minutes of the film, but it is a little too late for it to make much difference.
Rating (out of 5 stars): **
The Chocolate Farmer plays with the short:
Uprooted
Director: Andrew Moir
Shot in really grainy, but tasteful black and white, Andrew Moir’s short looks at a family of Canadian tobacco farmers who lost their livelihood after accepting a buyout from the government. The subjects are good people who you might not agree with, but the sympathy is there.
Rating (out of five stars): ***
Showing
May 5th at 7:00 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
May 7th at 7:15 p.m. at Cumberland 2
May 8th at 1:15 p.m. at the ROM
The Lumberfros
Workers of the World
Director: Stephanie Lanthier
The Lumberfros (pictured above) is a simplistic and quite charming look at brush clearers who toil away their summers and fall away in the Abitibi forests of Northern Quebec. Lanthier wisely sticks to her subjects rather than the work at hand as many of the workers are immigrants to Canada who have some wonderful stories to share about their experiences. Worth the price of admission alone is a man named Mamadou, an immigrant from Africa who is outspoken and charismatic with an encyclopedic knowledge of Alexander the Great and who likens himself as being the Alexander Ovechkin of brush clearing. An entertaining bit of work.
Rating (out of 5 stars): ***1/2
Showing
May 1st at 9:30 p.m. at the ROM
May 3rd at 1:30 p.m. at the ROM
Wiebo’s War
Canadian Spectrum
Director: David York
The name Weibo Ludwig is one that has shown up a lot in the news in the past few years after the reverend was suspected of numerous oil pipeline bombings in the Tomslake area of Alberta and of shooting a 16 year old girl on his own property. David York has created a film that is fiercely objective, carefully showing both sides and not drawing any final conclusions himself. The film addresses just what might make someone resort to terrorism through a decidedly unflattering portrayal of the gas and oil industry and use of Ludwig’s private home films (including two scenes depicting just what a gas leak can do to humans and wildlife that are horrifically graphic, but make indelible impressions). Weibo’s War is a film that is certain to spark a lot of discussion amongst those who watch it, but there still are no easy answers. The best documentaries often have that effect.
Rating (out of 5 stars): *****
Showing
April 30th at 7:00 p.m. at Isabel Bader Theatre
May 3rd at 7:15 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
May 7th at 6:30 p.m. at The Regent
Hot Docs 2011 runs from April 28 – May 8. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit hotdocs.ca.
Top image: A scene from The Lumberfros. Courtesy Hot Docs.
