Review by Dragan Antulov
½ star out of 4
Movies, like everything else, can age. What was supposed to be
great, well-known or highly acclaimed film today could be utterly
forgotten tomorrow or, even worse, viewed as something
mediocre. But sometimes history can play especially cruel tricks
with certain titles. Even the bad ones, and the best example for
this could be found in CANADIAN BACON, 1995 comedy written
and directed by Michael Moore, left-wing filmmaker best known for
his acclaimed documentaries and sharp criticism of American
corporate and political establishment. This time he took satirical
approach towards American jingoism and its connection with
military-industrial complex. The plot takes place after the end of
Cold War, when the USA lost its adversaries and reason to
maintain large military. Loss of lucrative contracts begins to affect
defence industry and the rest of economy, which, in turns reflects
in declining poll numbers for dovish President (played by Alan
Alda). In desperate need for something to distract electorate's
attention from domestic troubles he succumbs to the pressure
from hawkish General Panzer (played by Rip Torn) and decides to
manufacture new evil empire out of neighbouring Canada. The
American public is soon subjected to vicious propaganda blitz that
paints Canadians as evil incarnate. This manifests in Niagara Falls
where couple of citizens led by Sheriff Bud B. Boomer (played by
John Candy) decide to take matters into their own hands, cross
border and teach pesky Canadians a lesson.
Capitalist greed as the prime cause of wars is one of the recurring
themes in the history of modern political thought. Idea that the
masses could be manipulated into believing anything isn't exactly
new either. So, concept of CANADIAN BACON isn't particularly
original (and was used in WAG THE DOG few years later). That,
however, doesn't mean that the movie should be boring or
unfunny. Unfortunately, Michael Moore showed incredible
ineptness both as a writer and director. Satirical stabs in the film
are half-hearted at best and almost all jokes are unbelievably
unfunny. To make things even more incredible, the cast is made of
great comedians. It is especially sad to see legendary John Candy
having one of his last appearances wasted in this failed project.
The direction is equally disappointing and Moore's apparent
inability to deal with anything more complicated than documentary
makes CANADIAN BACON look much cheaper than its nominal
budget would indicate.
However, CANADIAN BACON is the most disappointing when we
look at it from today's context. Eight years ago, with seemingly
omnipotent USA Moore was perhaps right in blaming scruples
politicians and greedy corporate executives for most of the evil in
this world. But today, with last year's tragic events fresh in our
memory, viewers know that the world is much more complicated
place and because of that CANADIAN BACON looks more pathetic
than it deserves.
Copyright © 2002 Dragan Antulov
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out of 4
