THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS (2003)
Directed by Denys Arcand
On DVD
(*****)
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Written By: John H. Foote
Armed with Canada's first ever Academy Award for best foreign language film, the Genie Awards for best Canadian film, prizes at Cannes 2003, the adoration of film critics and audiences from around the world, The Barbarian Invasions (2003) arrives on DVD as perhaps the most celebrated film in Canadian movie history. One of the ten best films of 2003, The Barbarian Invasions (2003) is a sterling character study that walks the fine line between comedy and drama without ever stepping over into banality. This is the work of a major filmmaker and among the great films to emerge from this country; when they discuss in lofty tones Canada's national cinema, this is the film they should refer too.

A follow-up (sequel seems so crass for of a film of this stature) of sorts to Arcand's Oscar nominated The Decline of the American Empire (1986) the film re-visits the characters of that film several years later to find Remy (Remy Girard) the college professor with a penchant for women dying of cancer. Stuck in the nightmare that is Quebec's health care he is in a crowded room with [poor care until his estranged wife contacts his also estranged son, Sebastian (Stephane Rosseau) a millionaire investment banker living in London. The son arrives and at once begins using his clout and money to get his father what he believes he needs to make his life comfortable. He wheels and deals to get him a private room, a private doctor, has the union paint a room for him, and in doing so begins to come to terms with his father, whom he barely tolerates. Sebastian calls to his fathers' side his many old friends, who arrive to discuss the many changes in their lives over the years, and to help their old friend as he approaches death. Sebastian's final coup is to find Nathalie (Marie Josee Croze) daughter of one of Remy's one time lovers, who has her own demons and a past grappling with an addiction to heroin. He believes the heroin is the best possible pain killer for his father, vastly superior to Morphine, and one that will give him a good clean high. He pays her, and pays for her own habit to inject his father with the drug, staying under the radar of the police and the hospital staff. The one thing Sebastian does not think he will encounter is the deep humanity within his father, and when he discovers that he finds a reason to love the man he had hated for so long.

Deeply moving, The Barbarian Invasions (2003) is a savage attack on the state of health care in Quebec, and a crisp look at love, family and the failings of ourselves and those around us. Remy has failed nearly everyone in his life, but never once lied about whom or what he was which must account for something? In Sebastian, Nathalie sees the lost opportunity of herself, the person she easily could have become or loved rather than sinking into the hell of addiction. In many ways Remy's death gives her a reason to live, and Sebastian becomes a more loyal ally than she possibly imagined.

Superbly acted, Remy Girard won the Genie Award for best actor for his wonderful performance as Remy, the intellectual who cannot come to terms with his own death and the legacy he will leave behind. He do desperately wanted to be something to people, never realizing that the best thing he could have been, a father, he chose not to be. Only at the end does he come to terms with this part of himself, allowing himself to be loved by Sebastian. Girard captures the burning intelligence of a man who knows he lived his life selfishly and recognizes in the eyes of those around him the inherent forgiveness that is part of the human spirit. There is one sequence where he sits bundled up on the end of a dock looking at the life around him and turns to lock eyes with his son, and all is forgiven.

Stephane Rosseau is a revelation as Sebastian, a shrewd and calculating young man who knows that in any situation, money talks. He bribes the hospital staff; he bribes everyone including former students of his fathers' to make the old man's death easier on him. What he does think he will encounter is his father's humanity, and shockingly, his own. He overcomes his feeling of anger and rage towards his father, and loves him for what he is, loves him in spite of his shortcomings. Rousseau won a Genie for his supporting performance, another richly deserved honour.

Marie Josee Croze won the best actress award at Cannes and added a Genie for supporting actress to her mantle for her performance as the haunted Nathalie, an addict who so wants to return to society and sees in Sebastian a chance to do so. There intimate moment at the end of the film when he has given her his father's home to live in is an explosion of everything she has been feeling for this young man, who is in many ways her saviour. The tears that slip down her cheeks as she administers that final dose of heroin to Remy are real, and genuinely heartbreaking.

The Barbarian Invasions (2003) is a monumental Canadian film, the type of film we are capable of creating yet so seldom do. Viciously funny and deeply dramatic, Arcand marries the two for the perfect union in this magical film. I remember watching the film unspool at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and laughing through the tears at this film. What I loved about the picture was that while we are dealing a picture about death, there is a great deal of life within, and much to laugh about. There is one superb comic sequence when Sebastian goes to seek out heroin and deduces that those best to tell him where to find heroin would be the police. Watching him talk his way out of the jam he quickly finds himself in is among the comic highlights of the film. Arcand allows the final moments at the cottage to be breathtaking in their simplicity and honesty as we come to terms with the fact Remy has decided to make the decision when his life will end rather than allow death to make it for him.

Denys Arcand is among Canada's most prolific directors and screenwriters. His previous films, The Decline of the American Empire (1986) and Jesus of Montreal (1990) were both Genie Award winners for best picture and both nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language film. The man is a national treasure to be esteemed and appreciated. He won his third Genie for directing this film, which more so than in any of his previous works makes apparent his obvious skill with actors. There is something bursting from within Girard as he rages about what is bothering him largely because he knows he will not be able to rage much longer. Rousseau is superbly crafty; knowing money will open doors for him, yet using his brains as much as his cheque book to get what he desires. Best of all is Croze, the haunted heroin addict who so wises for a normal life free of her addiction which she knows is destroying her. Each gives a superb performance because the director allowed them their freedom to do just that. How many great directors know enough to stay out of their actors' way?? Most of them.

The DVD for The Barbarian Invasions (2003) comes with few extras, just a superb widescreen print of the film, which is the best reason to buy the DVD. One of the best films of last year, the best Canadian film of 2003, and easily among the finest Canadian features ever made.








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