In honour of the plethora of ongoing film shoots taking place in our fair city, it’s time to take a look back at how the ‘Peg has fared on film in the past.

Most Winnipeggers know that we’ve stood in for locals as varied as Alaska (The Big White), San Francisco (You Kill Me) and New York (Capote). As well, we’ve played ourselves in various productions by some hometown talent: think My Winnipeg and Seven Times Lucky.

What is less known is that, on occasion, outsiders have come along to use our town as the setting for their stories. These attempts at capturing our identity on film have been varied, uneven and hardly accurate. But what can you expect from a city which isn’t quite sure of whom it is to begin with?

With that, here is a look at two films which call Winnipeg their adopted homes. One would make an excellent choice the next time you choose to spend a summer night inside, watching a movie. The other? Not so much.

49th Parallel (1941) was part of a popular cycle of propaganda films from the early ‘40s made with the goal of convincing Americans to get behind the war effort.

The story concerns the crew of a German U-Boat who are shipwrecked off the coast of Hudson’s Bay. In order to keep from being imprisoned, these Nazi soldiers must make their way south through Manitoba and into the United States before the Canadian officials can find them.

Produced by the legendary British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the film manages to portray Canada without resorting to the sort of stereotypes commonly found during that period in many American depictions of the True North.

For Winnipeggers, the biggest thrill will come from the numerous on location shots showing our hometown circa 1940. From a grand aerial view of the Red River snaking around the city centre, to the bright lights, big crowds and gliding streetcars of Portage Avenue, this film gives a small glimpse into a time when the rest of the world viewed us as a sophisticated and cosmopolitan prairie metropolis.

Jump ahead almost 70 years and you’ll find a very different portrayal of Winnipeg in Shawn Lewy’s 2007 film, Blue State, about a disgruntled democrat who keeps his promise to move to Canada after Bush wins a second term.

The movie wears its message proudly on its sleeve, just above its enormously heavy hand; that message being that no matter who’s in charge, America is still the only place any sane person will live.

This is accomplished primarily by showing Winnipeg as a dingy, unrefined wasteland full of quasi-communists and simpleton citizens.

Lewy picked his locations carefully, eschewing the vibrancy of the Forks and urban beauty of the Exchange for the most unattractive suburban locales.
Winnipeggers can take solace in the fact that hardly anybody saw this mess of a movie. Aside from a few festival dates (including one in Winnipeg), the film founds its final resting place in the straight-to-video section.

49th Parallel which won an Oscar, is available through the Criterion Collection.

Check out two compilations of Hollywood’s Winnipeg references by visiting http://www.tinyurl.com/WinnipegMovies and www.tinyurl.com/WinnipegMovies2

Published in Volume 64, Number 27 of The Uniter (June 30, 2010)