BWW Preview: Inside A Rare Screening Of The Wars Movie At TIFF's Bell Lighthouse

On Tuesday, Nov. 18th, two weeks after Remembrance Day, Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox will present one of Canada's greatest, and rarely seen anti-war movies - Robin Phillips' adaptation of Timothy Findley's The Wars, (a Canadian-West German co-production.) It won the 1978 Governor General's Prize for literature. Findley also wrote the screenplay.

You may even say "Tiff" comes to TIFF as that was the endearing nickname friends and family called the author who himself was also a professional actor.

Bell Lightbox is presenting this rare screening in honor of the men and women in the Canadian Armed Forces and to commemorate Canada's entry into World War I on this, the 100th anniversary of the onset of the "War to End All Wars." York University professor Seth Feldman will introduce the film. The movie was originally released on November 10th, 1983.

Tickets are free and will be distributed at Bell Lightbox two hours before the film's scheduled 6:15 p.m. screening. It's part of the ITFF Cinematheque's Canadian Open Vault Fall 2014 series.

Directed by the great Robin Phillips, TIFF describes The Wars as "one of the largest and most prestigious productions ever mounted in Canada."

Upon publication, Canadian novelist Gwendolyn MacEwen wrote "Findley reminds us that `wars' do not only happen outside of ourselves ... He forces us to re-examine the premises of our so-called humanity... Magnificent."

From 1975 to 1980, Phillips was artistic director at the Stratford Festival. Featuring globally renowned talent such as Maggie Smith, Brian Bedford and Peter Ustinov, productions there during his tenure consistently were greeted with international acclaim for their excellence, something rarely achieved before or since. Canadians also blossomed under his direction including Richard Monette, William Hutt and Martha Henry.

For his cast, Phillips assembled a remarkably talented cast of Canadian and international talent, most of them from the Stratford company, including Margaret Tyzack, Martha Henry, William Hutt, Jackie Burroughs, Domini Bythe, Clare Coulter, Richard McMillan, Susan Wright and Brent Carver in the starring role of soldier Robert Ross.

Canadian classical music legend Glenn Gould composed the plaintive, melancholic score.

The Wars focuses on rebellious Robert Ross (Carver), who battles against the uptight, upper-crust Rosedale society he was born into," says the Bell Lightbox press material. "When war is declared in 1914, he enlists in the Canadian army to escape from personal tragedy.

"Though (the film) recreates the horrors of WWI trench warfare with harrowing realism, the film is more interested in how war replicates, and even amplifies, the class divisions of the homefront. In one of many telling details, Robert is the only man in his unit with a handgun because he is the only man wealthy enough to afford one."

IMDb says "...After training in Alberta and Montreal, (Ross) finds himself in England and France. The war becomes another way for him to resolve his conflicts, his dramas, his passions - his wars."

For more information, please visit www.tiff.net.

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