Confederation Park (1999) User Reviews

knocked on my...feet

[pizzacommander · 9/10 · 9 November 2005]

I had the pleasure of having filmmaker Bill Brown come to my school (Penn State) last night to screen 4 of his short films, "Confederation Park" being one of them. Each followed a common theme of, as he put it, "location, narration, history, and myself."

I strongly disagree with the previous (and only) comment on Confederation Park: 12 hours have passed since I have seen this short, and quite honestly, I can still feel it in my bones. The preceding comment on this film, calling Brown's input on the Québec Liberation Front "outdated," is truly missing the mark. After hearing him speak about his films, it is obvious that the intention of his work is to draw ties between current locale and its "historicized" past.

In Confederation Park, Brown unites a selection of Canadian cities (Montréal, St. John, Regina, and Vancouver) of which he spent nearly a year in (in total) through a series of truly breathtaking images interspersed with serene, subtle narration. After the course of the 20-or-so minute long short, I felt a stronger grasp on the confusion that is Canadian identity and pride. The funny thing is: Brown never includes a single Canadian speaking, nor is he Canadian (he's from Texas).

If you have the opportunity to see this or any of Bill Brown's films, do yourself a favor and see them.

"Confederation Park": a short film about Canada's uniqueness

[muvibuf · 9/10 · 24 April 2005]

This 32-minute, thoughtful documentary captures some of the beauty, diversity, and uniqueness of the second-largest nation in the world, sometimes referred to as "America's neighbor to the north." This piece is filmed and narrated by a young Texan filmmaker who travels to the Maritime Provinces, to Montreal and Quebec City, to the Canadian plains, and Vancouver. Along the way, his camera shots and wide-angle lenses bring the audience along for the ride, allowing us to enjoy the spectacular vistas of this remarkably peaceful landscape. As someone who grew up in Quebec City, I had a special appreciation of the filmmaker's discussion about the French separatist movement -- and how it has evolved from bombings and kidnappings in the '60s and '70s to a less-destructive modus operandi in today's post-2000 world...where pro-French vandals merely scratch off the English instructions on public bathroom hand driers or rip out the English-language ads from bilingual Yellow Page pay-phone directories. When visiting the winter carnival in Quebec City and its ice sculptures, he observes that the miniature-golf sculpture attracts putters on the greens (whites?) who don't even seem to notice that the temperature is significantly below zero degrees Fahrenheit. He remarks that Canada might be able to conquer the world with its peaceful resilience in the face of such a harsh climate, but that Canadians are too polite as a people to even try. This is a worthwhile portrait of a fascinating country and its people.

Oddly intriguing

[PLOOBOY · 8/10 · 12 December 2003]

I found this film oddly intriguing and occasionally thought provoking. Many of the shot constructions were brilliant. Good eye. I have no idea if the film captures the spirit of the place, but I now feel like I have been there.