The Happy Camper: The Canoe Film Everyone’s Arguing About Right Now
I did another Whisky Fireside Chat on my KCHappyCamper YouTube channel. Thanks Explore Magazine, for sponsoring my chats once again.
It was with Pete Parke, producer of the new film The Canoeist. An interesting interview to say the least, simply because I wasn’t sure if I liked the film or not. It had legendary Bill Mason’s antique classic filming style all over it; and I wasn’t sure if Mason’s technique towards capturing backcountry canoe tripping and wilderness values could be duplicated…or more so, should be duplicated. Mason’s National Film Board movie Waterwalker is treated like the holy divine of canoe films.
The Canoeist’s premise is the story of a solo canoeist David Lee from social media and YouTube famous The Pursuit of Passion. He explores a canoe route he’s never done; the full length of Ontario’s French River. Through narration by Pete (David doesn’t talk through the entire film), the flick follows the lone paddler down rapids and across portages, ending each day at some of the most scenic campsites the French River has to offer.
Throughout The Canoeist, David contemplates life while on trip; his ups and downs and his reason for being out there.
But just as you get cozy on the couch soaking in the perfectly edited and professionally filmed feature, with calming narration about the true joys of paddling a wild river, the third person narrative switches to first person. It’s a conversion that seems to come out of nowhere.
Rather than keeping the attention on the fancy drone shots, nightly campfire shots, shots of a solo canoeist running whitewater…the film does a surreal twist by introducing the solo paddler who begins to narrate his life history. It discusses David’s immigration from Korea, his father leaving, his mother’s love for him and his mother’s sickness and eventual death. The third-person jumping into the first-person threw me for a loop. It kind of felt odd to me, to be honest. However, the incredible cinematic beauty and eloquence seemed to keep stitching the story line along.
There is a hint of spiritualism; I’d even say religion. It didn’t offend or concern me while watching it, but I think it might bother others. Bill Mason did the same in his award-winning film Waterwalker:
“In our culture, it’s really tough to talk about spiritual things. You know, the feeling like, ‘oh no, here comes a sermon. And no matter what I say, I can’t win because my church crowd will feel I didn’t say enough, and my canoe cronies, well…’ We enjoyed the picture but we could have done without the sermon. So, what ya going to do?”
I asked Pete an important question during our whisky chat. Who is the film for? He explained that it wasn’t for the many but for the few who understood it all. Interesting perspective; and an idea that took him five full years to film and produce.
My last thought after watching The Canoeist was that it was a skillfully filmed canoe journey down an outstanding northern river. But personally, maybe, if you are going make it a personal journey, then own it. Don’t separate yourself from it by talking in the third person.
That’s what Bill Mason did. His was the paddler in the red canoe, the one we all wanted to be in, and the narrator of those special moments as well. His charisma in both abilities made him own Waterwalker. Bill’s soft narration, film imagery, strong environmental message, First Nation perspective, spiritual tone, personal character creation and some darn good paddling skills shown in between, really struck a chord with the audience of the time. But maybe that was a different time. Most of us spend time watching hyped up misadventures of canoe trips on YouTube and social media now. Maybe we’ve transitioned away from soft narration and the cinematic beauty of wild places. Maybe Bill Mason’s film-making style died with him, and could never, should never, be duplicated.
Make sure to check out Pete Parke’s film The Canoeist on his YouTube channel and let me know in the comments what you think of it all.
