Escape To Canada

On an otherwise typical June day in 2003, the laws against same-sex marriage and marijuana possession were struck down in the same Toronto courthouse. Their sudden legalisation helped catapult Canada’s image on the world stage from stodgy and boring to forward thinking and rad. Shortly after that, liberals across the U.S. started threatening to flee to Canada if Bush was re-elected. And so, Americans began to stream across the border to get gay married and high! Of course, the vast majority streamed right back, with their marriage certificates tucked into their suitcases. Around the same time, war resisters and disillusioned veterans began looking to Canada as a safe haven. Meanwhile, American money started pouring into the Canadian anti-gay marriage movement and political pressure from south of the border to crack down on marijuana and war resisters kicked into full gear. "The Land of The Free” wasn’t happy about this kind of freedom and made no secret of it, to the point where Canadian politicians started back peddling about decriminalisation. In Escape To Canada, Toronto/Montreal director Albert Nerenberg looks at Canada’s international image and political sovereignty through the prism of same-sex marriage, marijuana laws and war resistance. They’re disparate issues and the doc sometimes struggles to hold them together but Nerenberg’s wry wit and AD/HD editing velocity keep it engaging. He takes this hotchpotch of issues and combines them into a single-note, staccato symphony. The film marries high-concept issues with lowbrow eye candy for an amusing look at what it means to be Canadian in the 21st century. Neremberg has one of the most distinctive styles in Canadian documentaries right now and he’s made an entertaining film that will leave you simultaneous pissed off and proud to be a Canadian.