I GREW UP IN THE 1990s, in a small country on the Adriatic coast. At that time, freshly out of communism, Albania had a population of just over three million and was lauded as the poorest country in Europe. A lot of things had happened under the communist regime (which are – to say the least – out of scope here), one of which was the development of the Albanian film industry. The forty-five-year regime saw the production of 286 films.[i] A lot of these films are quite good, and some were even critically acclaimed outside the country. All of them have a communist undertone. The fall of the regime was followed by a bitter anger against what came before, and mass destruction of communist infrastructures. But these films – these undeniably communist films – remained untouched. Today, when I go to visit, I often come across them when flipping channels. Famous lines from these features have found a permanent place in everyday speech, in books, in TV shows. There is no need for explanation – everyone knows the lines, everyone knows the movies. They are classics.
What are Canada’s classic films? Canada – an infinitely bigger and wealthier country, with no past regime that it has tried to forget. I sure have to think hard about it. How many times have I seen It’s a Wonderful Life and Mrs. Doubtfire and The Sixth Sense? Yet when I think of Canadian films, the first ones that come to mind are those
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Brigid Cami is one of the editors of Toronto Journal.