Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story

The film is shamelessly emotional and still pulls it off, because the material is strong. By no means perfect. It sneaks up on you and is, at times, a full-on, hanky-worthy tear jerker. My most cynical friends reluctantly admitted they cried their eyes out. How often do you get to say that about a 4-hour CBC biopic? Far beyond the film, Tommy's worth a ten on his own merits. (So I can only give it a nine.) He is unquestionably a hero of the left, but he is also a hero for anyone who believes in balanced budgets and debt reduction.

Scratch that. Debt elimination.

He's a hero for anyone who thinks politicians should campaign on what they intend to do, and then do what they campaigned on. He's a hero for anyone who thinks government ought to be transparent and accountable. He actually managed to deliver ambitious yet ruthlessly efficient government service. Sometimes government is the problem. Not this time. This time government was transformative.

Like John Diefenbaker and John A. MacDonald, he is a man who changed his country beyond any reasonable expectation.

How the hell do you turn that into a series of compelling scenes with even remotely engaging characters? Good luck.

And yet the movie is so much better than you think it is. Especially the second part, which by all rights should flounder and die like a baby seal in a Greenpeace ad. But it creeps up on you until it absolutely soars. Look at the person beside you. One of you is probably going to cry.

Politics? Emotional? Inspiring? This Baptist preacher from the 30's is, in the end, shockingly relevant? Who woulda thunk? Not that I would pretend to be objective.

The comments by people who "hated" this movie were very good comments. There are a few parts of the film which are crafted more for the enjoyment factor than the education factor. In doing so, the filmmakers sacrificed maybe one tenth of this film's historical value. I also agree with the people who loved this movie because it was so well produced and acted. All in all, this is a good film for anyone who cares about good government, family values, whether liberal or conservative. It provides a sound basis for further research if you are at all interested in the history of good government in the 20th Century. Speaking of "liberal," in the movie it is a puzzle why "liberal" seems to mean one thing in Canada and something else in the United States. Ah, well.

"Prairie Giant" is a very good film about the great Canadian social democrat Tommy Douglas, the creator of the first Medicare system in North America, along with the first provincial government leader to sign into law a bill of rights and to legally guarantee collective bargaining in all sectors of the economy. Douglas was a witty and clever speaker, and Theriault does a good job at conveying his oratorical skills. The usual minuscule CBC budgets aren't noticeable here. A few of the minor actors don't seem terribly well cast: Paul Gross as Diefenbaker, Andy Jones as Mackenzie King, though they give it the old college try. Yet Don McKellar is good as Saskatchewan's finance minister, as is Kristin Booth as Irma Douglas, Tommy's wife. Douglas' final speech to the 50th Anniversary meeting of the CCF about the greed of private enterprise still rings true today in our globalized, McDonaldized, corporatized world.

It would have been nice to see the political struggles of the late 1960s and 1970s, which were skipped over the film, but these were sacrificed to show the struggle over Medicare in detail. You might have thought this would be a somewhat dull three hours... yet it could easily have filled five hours and kept my attention. We need more films like this from the CBC.

This is a brilliant biop not only about medicare but about the whole career of a much loved politician. (That was not necessarily an oxymoron back then!) Michael Therriault has captured the essence of Tommy Douglas. Apparenly he studied many old TV clips and consulted Douglas' family. (Douglas had a Scots burr. Therriault does not use one. But nonetheless he has captured the man's peppery manner impressively.) Some of the other portrayals (MacKenzie King, John Diefenbaker, M.J.Coldwell) were not as effective. They've also captured the era with a stunning array of vintage cars, kitchen appliances, telephones, furniture and men and women's clothing. They have been interwoven effectively with old TV clips including one of Norman DePoe and David Lewis. (Remember them?) Let's hope this film doesn't end up in a basement at the CBC after its summer repeat. It's a legitimate Canadian story that should keep turning up on Canadian TV for several years and which, despite it's authentic Canadian character, would make good viewing almost anywhere in the English speaking world. Damn good stuff!

One might expect a mini series over 3 hours about the father of Medicare would be full of fillers but they would be mistaken. The life of T.C. Douglas goes by very quickly in this movie yet manages to cover much of his major accomplishments, personal highlights, and famous speeches. Tommy Douglas was first and foremost a great orator. His experience as a Baptist pastor honed his public speaking skills and also his moral commitment to his promises. "PRAIRIE GIANT" shows the extent of his persecution both religious ("The trouble with you Baptists is they don't hold you under the water long enough") and political (his C.C.F. party is referred to as Communists and the Red Menace). His accomplishments can best be viewed on related web pages and publications. The biopic wisely focuses on his personal life which in large part shaped his social attitudes. The music and cinematography are a big part of this film but Canadian films about the Depression and mid 20th Century have always been of high quality. The acting is also as good as anticipated. Many famous faces have yet to be posted on the IMDb list. For example, Nicholas Campbell (the star reporter on Ron Howard's Cinderella MAN for those of you who haven't seen DAVINCI'S INQUEST)plays Liberal E.J.Young, CODCO's Andy Jones plays P.M. MacKenzie King, and Aidan Devine (Gordie Howe on NET WORTH) plays M.J. Colewell. Of course, it would not seem like a Canadian biopic without R.H.Thompson who's been in docu-dramas about other Canadian heroes like Ken Taylor, Terry Fox, Ted Lindsay, Frederick Banting, and Pierre Trudeau. The producers really pulled out all the stops to make a movie that will live as long as the memory of T.C. Douglas lives on.