Pubdate: Thu, 22 Sep 2005
Source: Mirror (CN QU)
Copyright: 2005 Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltee
Contact:  http://www.montrealmirror.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/267
Author: Matthew Hays,  The Montreal Mirror
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)

DREAM STATE

Albert Nerenberg Explores Our Country's Bold New Image In Escape To Canada

For filmmaker Albert Nerenberg, the inspiration for his latest project was 
a very simple one. "It was just about timing," the Montreal native says. 
"Two summers ago, I realized that marijuana was being decriminalized at 
precisely the same moment same-sex marriage was being legalized in Canada."

And this, Nerenberg noticed, was drawing huge attention in the 
international media. The Economist was declaring Canada cool. Forbes was 
noticing our laid-back stances on the big issues of the day. And the 
American queer magazine of record The Advocate was informing their readers 
about how to get married in Canada. Add to this the Iraq war, which Canada 
abstained from, and you have a load of Americans of conscience dying to 
migrate across the 49th parallel and, as Nerenberg's title would indicate, 
Escape to Canada.

Nerenberg, whose last film was the hugely successful indie doc Stupidity, 
began to follow these stories and to interview people, armed with his 
camcorder. And then, he recalls, these stories began "to take off in insane 
ways," making Escape to Canada "a Frankenstein monster of a movie-there was 
no stopping it!"

In particular, Vancouverite Marc Emery, a pro-marijuana activist and the 
so-called Prince of Pot, began to have severe legal woes, getting arrested 
by Canadian authorities at the behest of the American government. For 
years, Emery has been challenging the constitutionality of Canada's pot 
laws, and has been mailing pot seeds across the border to Americans. 
Nerenberg acknowledges that, while this makes for fantastic drama, it also 
produces headaches-now in extradition hearings, Emery's story is still 
unfolding.

Peace, pot and pride

Canadians have often identified themselves not by what they are, but what 
they are not. But Nerenberg says Canada's stances on these three key 
issues-same-sex marriage, marijuana and the Iraq war-has led to a renewed 
sense of identity and pride.

"Lucien Bouchard once famously remarked that Canada wasn't a real country," 
recalls Nerenberg, "and in a sense, I think he was right. But now we are a 
real country-we really stand for something.

"People have long thought of Canada as a boring country, and I think we are 
in many respects. But our boringness means we have a more reasoned approach 
to thinking about issues. Americans operate on hysteria. Decisions are not 
made based on reason. When an issue like gay marriage comes along, suddenly 
Americans are afraid that if this goes ahead in six months people are going 
to be marrying a mountain goat. It's hysteria and it's fear mongering, but 
within the American political system it has worked."

As Nerenberg captured various bits of footage, he said he noticed an 
interesting difference between the gay activists and the potheads. "The gay 
marriage activists were often a bit conservative, and thus didn't want to 
be lumped in with the marijuana activists. But the potheads were a lot more 
cool and didn't mind being associated with the gay marriage people. They 
were like, 'Whoa, dude, whatever.' In fact, the pro-pot people have really 
been taking their cues from the same-sex marriage activists."

Same sex, different story

Nerenberg says he could not help being particularly moved by the fight for 
same-sex marriage. "To me, it really is the ultimate insult to tell someone 
they can't get married. How is it hurting someone else if two people of the 
same sex want to get married? The anti-same-sex marriage movement in this 
country was built with American money and American interests. It barely 
existed prior to Bush's re-election victory, where it was perceived that 
his opposition to same-sex marriage was a crucial part of his success."

And making Escape to Canada reminded Nerenberg of one of his previous 
films, Climate for Murder, his 1998 documentary examining the rash of 
homophobic murders that plagued Montreal in the late '80s and early '90s. 
"When we were researching that film, we got a huge file of crime photos 
from crime rag Allo Police. The murders were extreme and shocking. Opposing 
gay rights has very real repercussions for gays-they need to have full 
legal equality."

Still, for all the seriousness of the issues he's dealing with, in true 
Nerenbergian style, Escape to Canada is great fun to watch. "I recommend 
you watch this movie in Stonervision, with a crowd. Anyone who loves love 
and hates hate will want to attend. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll love 
your country."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom