“Shameless Propaganda” examines the NFB under John Grierson, the messages in the films during the Second World War, and how they defined Canada.National Film Board of Canada/Supplied
On election night, politicians are best advised not to tune into live TV election coverage – and try to relax.
Everyone knows how these broadcasts go, anyway. First, the last polls are discussed. Then a pundit says, “but the only poll that counts is …”
Next, interesting early results are analyzed, and another talking head says, “but it’s far too early …”
Eventually, an overarching narrative emerges. A strategist from one party will try to hide her excitement, while a strategist from another will try to hide his disappointment. Then the network will make a call.
Usually this happens a minute after your phone has pinged with news that another media organization has already declared a winner.
So what should politicians watch Monday night instead of putting themselves through that rigmarole?
I know what Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre would like to watch – not because I have access to what he has starred on his Netflix account, but because I’ve read his platform.
In a section titled “Protect our shared Canadian identity,” the Conservative Party outlines its promise to defund the English side of CBC.
But then there is this promise that has been little discussed: “Funding the first made-in-Canada documentaries about Canadians’ contributions to winning the World Wars so future Canadians do not forget the courage and sacrifice of those generations and their stories live on.”
Well, I have cheering news for Poilievre: Win or lose, you can stream a made-in-Canada documentary about Canadians’ contributions to winning the world wars. Tonight.
That’s because the CBC and other publicly funded Canadian film and TV institutions have, in fact, produced a plethora of documentaries and docudramas about the wars over the decades. Indeed, the birth of the documentary form in this country is intertwined with our wartime efforts.
Here are five significant ones available to stream tonight. Only one involves Justin Trudeau.
Shameless Propaganda, 2014
The National Film Board of Canada won the first of its 12 Academy Awards – and the first Oscar ever given out for best documentary short film – for the 1941 Second World War propaganda film Churchill’s Island (narrated by Lorne Green, later best known for Bonanza).
While that doc and what else survives of the Canada Carries On series are available to stream, it may be more edifying to watch 2014’s Shameless Propaganda, a feature-length documentary by Robert Lower that draws on these films to talk about how the NFB shaped Canadian identity in wartime: “The real story of the board’s early years is not about convincing us to die for our country, but rather convincing us we had a country worth dying for.”
Canada at War, 1962
First broadcast on CBC, this still significant series created by, among others, documentary legend Donald Brittain consists of 13 half-hour episodes put together, according to the NFB, “from more than 14,000,000 feet of film, mostly shot by Canadian Army cameramen during the Second World War.” It follows Canada’s journey through the war from the first ship of troops sailing from Halifax all the way to Soviet cypher clerk Igor Gouzenko’s defection to Canada just a few days after the end the war, kicking off the Cold War.
The Valour and the Horror, 1991
This highly controversial miniseries created by Brian McKenna – described in his Globe and Mail obituary as “one of Canada’s foremost documentary chroniclers of the country’s military history” – zoomed in on three significant moments in the Second World War for Canada. Watched by millions of Canadians in its original CBC broadcasts, the second episode sparked a nationwide conversation (and a Senate investigation) for focusing on the experiences of Canadians in the RAF Bomber Command and the air war’s shift to the bombing of German cities.
The Great War, 2007
Clearly influenced by the rise in popularity of reality television, McKenna – same one – enlisted 150 Canadians whose ancestors were First World War veterans to participate in this docuseries that focused on five major battles involving Canadians: St. Julien, Beaumont-Hamel, Courcelette, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele. Among those participating – and showing his bottom in the process, in a skinny-dipping scene – was future prime minister Justin Trudeau, who played Talbot Mercer Papineau – his fifth cousin, twice removed. Reviewing for The Globe and Mail, Henrietta Walmark wrote: “The Great War becomes a fascinating blend of living history, battle recreations, memorable portraits of veterans and vivid impressions of the hell of war as it happened and as it was relived.” You can find it on Tubi.
Forgotten War, 2024
To represent the current decade’s documentaries, I weighed including Viveka Melki’s recent one about Canadian experiences in Japanese POW camps The Fence (made for CBC/NFB’s documentary channel) or CBC’s live special on the 80th anniversary of D-Day last year, but truth be told, we probably know more about that Second World War history than our subsequent military history. So, I’m sneaking in this TVO series narrated by Steve Paikin. It consists of short documentaries about the Korean War, the war in Afghanistan and Canada’s involvement in peacekeeping operations in places such as Cyprus. Lest we forget.
