WE'RE THE COOLEST!

Escape Documents Aftermath Of Our Liberal June

ESCAPE TO CANADA

Directed by Albert Nerenberg, Metro Cinema, Zeidler Hall, Citadel
Theatre, *

In his most notable recent outing, Canada's Albert Nerenberg aimed
his documentary lens at fuzzy thinking. Stupidity amply and comically
demonstrated that the world still provides fertile ground for idiocy.
But Stupidity was itself a little dense, and I don't mean
"bewildering by virtue of being packed with insight." "Can you
believe this shit?" the film seemed to ask, without offering much in
the way of a solution or even a thesis.

Nerenberg's latest effort, Escape to Canada, fares rather better, at
least in so far as it tries to make the point that boring, buttoned-
down Canada became a mecca of liberalization on June 10, 2003. It was
on that day in one Toronto courthouse that the strictures against
both same-sex marriage and marijuana seemed to melt away. The former,
of course, was subsequently endorsed by Parliament, whereas the
latter, as Escape to Canada amply makes clear, has seen an U.S.-
abetted return to the danger zone.

Escape to Canada likely won't change any minds, although it's
baffling how anyone can deny the rightness of same-sex marriage after
witnessing deeply moved same-sex couples sharing their first wedded
kisses. Likewise, if you haven't yet figured out that our official
policy toward dope is hypocritical, equivocal, counter-productive,
and wasteful, you'd be better served by catching an eyeful of the
superb Grass... although the former mayor of Vancouver's tirade,
recorded in Escape, is a clear-eyed analysis that's probably worth
the price of admission.

Instead, Nerenberg more or less artfully-and somewhat haphazardly-
documents a moment in time, when Canada's unique identity (the one we
can never put our finger on) came to the fore, when Americans and
others swarmed across the border to smoke up and/or get hitched. To
hear them express their gratitude for Canada's coolness make the
chest swell with pride, even while we remind ourselves that
legislators in The Netherlands had the spine to actually liberalize
their policies in both areas well before Canada did, whereas our
governments seem content to let brave citizens force such issues by
putting themselves on the line.

Nerenberg also sounds a warning about the limits of Canadian
tolerance... just in case you don't read the papers. The Harper
government, paradoxically but perhaps not surprisingly, seems bent on
donning the guise of a nanny state. (You want to hear from your
federal cabinet? Tough. Think you're competent to decide whom you
should marry? We'll figure that out for you.) If you needed a call to
arms, this might be it.