Canada's top 10 films of all time

TAKE ONE, Sept-Dec, 2004 by Steve Gravestock

As Piers Handling noted in the Fall 1994 issue of Take One, where the results from the 1993 poll were published, this was no small thing for Canadian cinema had just weathered the tax-shelter years, often considered our darkest cinematic period. The auteurs who established themselves in the 1960s and 1970s suffered significant setbacks as a result of the frequently catastrophic vagaries of the era, when an emphasis on genre and illusory box--office results supplanted the notion of true national cinema, one that reflected Canada to Canadians and presented it to the world. The 1984 poll paid tribute to these pioneers, citing filmmakers like Claude Jutra, Don Shebib, Gilles Carle, Don Owen and Jean Beaudin.

The 1993 poll, which marked the 10th anniverysary of Perspective Canada, suggested a kind of consensus, with six films reappearing on the list. At the same time, the poll acknowledged two key developments; the emergence of the so-called Toronto new wave (represented by Patricia Rozema's I've Heard the Mermaids Singing and Atom Egoyan's The Adjuster) and the prominence of Quebecois director Denys Arcand, who enjoyed the rare distinction of having two films included in the Top 10. In significant ways, the poll reflected the increasing maturity of the industry and of particular artists.

The 2004 poll follows similar lines and suggests all even greater consensus with six of the films from the 1993 poll reappearing. (In fact, it would have been seven if The Grey Fox had received one more vote.) This time Arcand earns a greater distinction by placing three films in the Top 10. For the first time, David Cronenberg has a film in the Top 10. Especially exciting is the inclusion of the first limit film in the poll: Zacharias Kunuk's celebrated Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). I should note that the methodology of this poll was slightly different than its predecessors. This time, the results from 1984 and 1993 were included on the ballot. There was also an attempt to make the poll slightly more international in terms of respondents. Approximately 20 per cent of the respondents were women; almost 25 per cent were from outside Canada.

We've elected to highlight the Top 20 finishers, in part because, in some ways, this list is even more intriguing. The results acknowledge significant contributions from the West (two films by Winnipeg director Guy Maddin place, as does Phillip Borsos's aforementioned The Grey Fox). Two more intimate films by Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg are cited and Michael Snow's Wavelength also received significant support.

As with any poll, there are certain oddities. Sadly, there are no films by women filmmakers in the Top 20--though Ruzema, Deepa Mehta, Lea Pool, Anne Wheeler and Joyce Weiland all received a substantial number of votes. And only one documentary, Pont la suite de monde, directed by NFB stalwart Pierre Perrault with Michel Brault, made the Top 20. It's worth noting that, despite nearly constant fluctuation in the distribution scene and public and private funding policies over the last decade, our filmmakers have managed to tell their own compelling stories and their energy and creativity is particularly reflected in the films that placed in the bottom half of the Top 20, acknowledging the emergence of new talents from different regions of Canada. There are more than 200 films listed here. As Handling said in 1993, all of them are worth seeing, and they represent a rich film heritage that grows richer with each passing year.

two thousand and four

1. Mon oncle Antoine (1971)

2. Jesus de Montreal (1988)

3. The Sweet Hereafter (1997) Goin' down the Road (1970)

5. Atanarjuat (2002)

6. Dead Ringers (1988)

7. Les Ordres (1974) Les Bons Debarras (1980)

9. Le Declin de l'empire americain (1986) Les Invasions barbares (2003)

11. The Grey Fox (1983)

12. Leolo (1992) The Heart of the World (2000) Wavelength (1967)

15. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)

16. Calendar (1993) Spider (2003) Pour la suite du monde (1963)

19. Thirty-Two Short Films about Glenn Gould (1994)

20. The Saddest Music in the World (2004) Crash (1996) Exotica (1994)

nineteen ninety-three

1. Mon oncle Antoine (1971)

2. Jesus de Montreal (1988)

3. Goin' down the Road (1970)

4. Le Declin de l'empire americain (1986)

5. Les Bons Debarras (1980)

6. Les Ordres (1974)

7. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)

8. The Grey Fox (1983)

9. I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987)

10. The Adjuster (1991)

nineteen eighty-four

1. Mon oncle Antoine (1971)

2. Goin' down the Road (1970)

3. Les Bons Debarras (1980)

4. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974)

5. The Grey Fox (1983) Les Ordres (1974)

7. J.A. Martin, photographe (1977) Pour la suite du monde (1963)

9. Nobody Waved Good Bye (1964) La Vraie Nature de Bernadette (1972)

MAURIE ALIOFF

Associate editor, Take One Atanarjuat Spider Jesus de montreal The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Dead Ringers Les Bons Debarras Leolo Les Triplettes de Belleville Post-Mortem Family Viewing

BLAINE ALLAN

Department head, Queen's University (in chronological order) Safe Clothing Begone Dull Care Les Raquetteurs Warrendale Wojeck: "The Last Man in the World" The Ballad of Crowfoot Surfacing on the Thames Les Dernieres fiancailles The Grey Fox Da Vinci's Inquest: "Little Sister"