Quote:
Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ
Cool. Loved that flick. Enlighten me on the Canadian themes!
|
First thing I picked up on was
the weather in central Ontario, and mention of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I think that was a nice way to set up
the depression, paranoia and being stuck inside. Even without "conversationalists" running around,
the movie could have played out similarly.
Sense of place, and small town boredom is huge. Maybe I found that more effective because I can relate, but it was pretty apparent. Mazzy was a Toronto talk radio artist before getting fired and started working in a town as small as Pontypool. He's clearly bored, and trying to stir shit up, make
the small minded small-towners think about something, anything. He was so excited when shit started happening that he didn't really think about
the hysteria he was causing. I just liked that because I know first hand that people in a small town will do anything for fun/attention. (Some kids in my town beat a carny to death with a baseball bat. We're desperate for excitement and it's sad.)
French/English relations. Firstly
the BBC asking if
the attacks were related to separatist terrorist attacks (In
the 60s a group called
the FLQ would set up mailbox bombs to try to kill English speaking Canadians in Quebec). Then Mazzy's distaste for speaking french near
the end of
the film. Look on his face was priceless.