Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Roedy Green This movie is 3 hours long. It has a cast of tens of thousands (at least it feels that way.) I think Sebastian Spence was about the only Canadian actor _not_ in it. I exaggerate a tad. Much of it appears to have been filmed in the Canadian parliament buildings in Ottawa, 24 Sussex Drive (the PM's residence), military bases and other places that would have required endless bureaucratic pandering to get permission to film. The movie overuses some of this footage. "It cost us a bundle, and you are damn well going to appreciate it."It deals in more substantial way than you would expect with Canadian political themes: separatism, water, bullying by the USA, fear of terrorists, NAFTA, political union with the USA.The dialogue is quite wooden. I think it was all written by one person. It needs to be re-written to be more idiosyncratic for each character. The mother with her drinking is a little too one-dimensional. But I think that was partly deliberate. Everyone LIES, especially to the public. Because they are not good liars, they are unconvincing every time they open their mouths. It is thus quite a cynical look at political intrigue and under the table deals. Every public speech says the exact opposite of what the character said in private earlier.One of the strangest things about the movie, there are no clear good guys and bad guys. Your loyalties shift back and forth. Some people you just can't decide. Others you know are bad, but can't figure out who they are working for or what they are attempting to accomplish with their mayhem.The relationships and true motivations are MURKY, worthy of the machinations in an English murder mystery.I am pretty sure I will watch it again, hoping with foresight to figure more of the movie out. I also wondered just what facts form the framework of this story. It feels like a historical reconstruction (though it takes place in a fictitious 2004). The smug, power-crazy, plump, young Prime Minister played by Paul Gross bears a strong resemblance to the actual P.M. Stephen Harper. He even has the same articulate reverence for lying.

Rose Pretty good, and equally unlikely and likely, but an interesting and fairly valid idea in any case. Misleading, but captivating throughout.I thought it was most interesting because I live in Canada and that's probably the only Canadian Politics movie I've ever seen in my life.Worth seeing if you're interested in politics and stories like it, but it tends to drag on sometimes, and much concentration is required to keep track of who's who and what's going on.When I first started watching it sort of reminded me of Wag The Dog, which takes place in the United States and has Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in it. It's very well done, perhaps more so than this movie, but it depends on what you like. As the movie progresses, of course, the similarities end, but Wag The Dog is worth seeing too.Otherwise excellent.

reticula-1 I don't know if this is a spoiler or not, but I have no doubt that if the extremely unlikely events depicted in this teleplay ever occurred, millions of us (literally) would be out in the streets, guns in hand (yes, we still have guns up here!).H2O portrays Canadians as a bunch of supine, weak-willed, uncaring fools ruled by a secret clique manipulating a naive political class, but then again, lefties portray all nationalities that way.You can tell some lefty wrote it to press all the lefty buttons: the Kennedy mythos, mass political apathy, water exports, American and corporate dominance, military skulduggery, etc. Way, way over the top. If they had dialled it down a kilotonne it could have been at least comparable to "A Very British Coup", which was also a lefty daydream but much more realistic.

kdf Paul Gross stars in this self-styled Canadian political thriller which aired on CBC over the past few nights. The two-part series originally aired last fall but I forgot to catch it, and heard little in its aftermath. It's a rare thing - a Canadian political thriller... I'd describe it as vaguely similar to House of Cards (the exceptional 1990 British political black comedy), with hints of the ridiculousness of Canadian Bacon and even X-Files.Upon the death of his father, the Prime Minister in a suspicious canoeing accident, Tom McLaughlin-- a seemingly decent chap-- outwits rival and unlikeable snorer Marc Lavigne (right away, that name stuck out as bit too much like mass-murderer Marc Lepine) to become Canada's new PM. Backed by a media baron-- part of a trio of corporate bigwigs with mischievous smiles-- McLaughlin rides a wave of popularity to start hatching a subversive scheme. It becomes apparent McLaughlin is about to sell Canada down the river by exporting water through a far-fetched (or is it?) water pipeline from Northern Quebec. It's necessary, he claims, or else the increasingly parched United States will end up taking it anyway. But it turns out McLaughlin has a gun to his head, and is a mere puppet for a pseudo-Bilderberg all-powerful group of old men who control the world.Strangely this group seems to only have the resources for one secret agent: the elusive Daniel Holt, who is everywhere and nowhere. He knocks off cops who get too close to the truth, wiretaps the Solicitor General (Lavigne), tortures wrongfully imprisoned muslims, and recruits Cree youth in Northern Quebec for devious plots.Meanwhile, the head good cop Sgt. Leah Collins, played by Leslie Hope, is busy figuring out who Holt is and trying to establish what really happened to McLaughlin Senior during his canoeing trip 'accident'. Mild flirtations with PM Tom McLaughlin and finally a pact with Lavigne bring her closer to the truth.The opinions we form of the various characters are in a state of flux; with the burning question being: If your neighbour were thirsty would you not give them a glass of water? It would be nicer if the plot had a smoother flow - more a Saint Lawrence than Hell's Gate. But the film editing, sound and cinematography are luscious. Night time fly-by shots of Parliament Hill are interspersed with evil looking Gargoyles and the Rideau Canal.Gross by far steals the show, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the heck he's going to turn into John Diefenbaker in the upcoming Tommy Douglas Story.The conclusion is unsatisfying, but it's hard to say what would have been a happy ending. It's almost as if the inevitable, the unavoidable, the manifest destiny took hold. All in all, any political nut would find this at least mildly amusing. Somehow though even with the explosions, blackouts and murders this film doesn't rate with the 2002 mini-series Trudeau.Someone mentioned that McLaughlin could not have possibly become Prime Minister in such a short thing. Well, actually one doesn't have to even be elected to be Prime Minister, legally (remember John Turner, briefly 1984). And this movie does take place over a period of many many months. This is fiction, folks, and it's not bad. It's by no means a great film, but it's entertaining.