Clearcut (film)

Clearcut is a 1991 Canadian drama film about clearcutting in an unnamed Canadian province. This motion picture stars Graham Greene, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Ron Lea, and Michael Hogan, and directed by Polish filmmaker Ryszard Bugajski. Filmed in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and based on the novel A Dream Like Mine (1987) written by M. T. Kelly, it covers complex subject matter such as the land rights of indigenous peoples in Canada, pacifism, colonialism, and environmentalism.

Not to be confused with Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon.
Clearcut
Directed byRyszard Bugajski
Produced byIan McDougall
Stephen J. Roth
Written bynovel M. T. Kelly
writer Robert Forsyth
StarringGraham Greene
Tom Jackson
Music byShane Harvey
CinematographyFrançois Protat
Edited byMichael Rea
Production
company
Cinexus Capital Corporation
Distributed byNorthern Arts Entertainment
Release date
  • 10 September 1991 (1991-09-10)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Notable actors include Graham Greene, and Phil Harris. Greene, known for his prolific work, including the critically acclaimed Dances with Wolves, is quoted as saying this is his favorite movie in which he has acted.[1] Harris who is best known as the voice of Baloo in Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book was cast in this movie as a policeman.

Through making Clearcut, director Ryszard Bugajski stated that he set out to portray the issues that he saw existing with pacifism. By forcing the viewer to consider the arguments of the characters alongside their actions he hoped to show the viewer the complexity of these issues where good and evil is not so easily divided.[2]

Plot

Arthur (Greene) rises up into the world from beneath the water, in a rural, forested area in Canada. A seaplane arrives, carrying a passenger to a First Nations reserve, where activists are engaged in a loud, chaotic conflict, attempting to block clearcutting on Indian land. The white man from the seaplane is a lawyer, Peter Maguire (Lea), who is representing the band whose land is designated for deforestation. Peter attempts to appeal the court decision which ruled in favor of the logging company, but to no avail.

An elder member of the Nation, Wilf (Westerman) introduces the attorney to Arthur, who the attorney believes is a militant Indigenous activist. Arthur proceeds to kidnap the logging company's general manager, Bud (Hogan) and the four take off through the woods where Arthur claims he will "instruct" Peter and Bud in "listening to Mother Earth".

As they travel deeper into the wilderness, Arthur says he will show them the damage caused to the land. Arthur's behaviour grows increasingly erratic and violent. Wilf's warnings and insinuations that Arthur may actually be Wisakedjak, an Indigenous trickster spirit (whom Wilf also refers to as "the Deceiver") begin to make more sense. Peter is faced with difficult decisions that test his loyalties and sense of reality. At the end Arthur, or whatever he is, returns to the water.

Cast
  • Graham Greene as Arthur
  • Ron Lea as Peter Maguire
  • Michael Hogan as Bud Rickets
  • Floyd Red Crow Westerman as Wilf
  • Rebecca Jenkins as Louise
  • Tia Smith as Polly
  • Tom Jackson as Tom Starblanket
  • Michael J. Reynolds as Hunter
  • David A. Sutton as Pilot
  • Raoul Trujillo as Eugene
  • Michael Willar as News Cameraman #1
  • Harvey Churchill as Sweat Lodge Singer #1
  • Therry Bannon as Sweat Lodge Singer #2
  • John Boylan
  • Phil Harris as Policeman
  • Steve Mousseau as Nasty Cop
  • Andrew Proctor as Regional Police Officer #1
  • Jari Sarkka as Regional Police Officer #2

Reception

Release

Clearcut premiered at the Toronto International Film festival on September 10, 1991, and then had a limited DVD release. While the film never saw mainstream success in North America, it has developed a cult following in Germany.[3] One possible reason that Clearcut failed to make a lasting impact was its proximity to the Oka Crisis. A widely covered land dispute between First Nations and the town of Oka, Quebec that resulted in violent clashes between Indigenous protesters and Quebec police. Clearcut's somewhat ambiguous and brutal portrayal of land claim disputes, along with its extreme violence targeted towards police and business owners could have contributed to its lack of success.[3]

Influence

To this day, Clearcut remains an important part of the discussion surrounding the portrayal of indigenous peoples in contemporary film. Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (2003) labels Clearcut a sympathetic portrayal of modern indigenous peoples, in which "native actors get to act out their colonially-induced angst".[4] The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul (2015) comments on the character of Arthur being portrayed as a spiritual being, and how he is a symbolic representation of the response to colonial attitudes of racism and inequity.[5]

References
  1. "Playback 2012 Canadian Film and TV Hall of Fame inductee: Graham Greene". Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  2. "Ryszard Bugajski | Artist | Culture.pl". Culture.pl. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  3. "Lost classic Clearcut gets Vancity screening". Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2017-11-22.
  4. Rollins, Peter C.; O'Connor, John E., eds. (1998). Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film (ENL - Enlarged, 2 ed.). University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 9780813190778. JSTOR j.ctt2jcnf1.
  5. Freitag, Gina; Loiselle, André (2015-11-26). The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442624047.
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