Montreal Gazette

Canadian film captures realities of war

Canadian film evokes the light, space, tempo and confusion in Afghanista­n

- MATTHEW FISHER National Post

Back in 2011, the Taliban fired potshots to try to interrupt the banquet of goat and rice that Canadians and Afghans had laid out to celebrate the opening of Route Hyena.

The crackle and pop of outgoing machine-gun fire quickly kicked in, joined moments later by the thump of mortars as the Canadians and their Afghan army partners quickly dominated the battle.

The brief exchange proved that the Taliban could not do anything to stop the building of a road that Canada’s last Afghan combat commander, Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner, predicted would become “a dagger through the heart of the Taliban.”

But it was never easy. The Taliban tried to murder Afghans working on the $10-million Canadian-funded project, which also aimed to link farmers in the Horn of Panjwaii with markets in Kandahar City. To keep those workers safe, Canadian Griffon helicopter­s armed with deadly Gatling guns maintained a persistent overmatch while formidable Leopard tanks and unseen snipers lurked nearby on the ground.

Hyena Road, a film by Paul Gross which opened last week in cinemas across Canada, impressive­ly evokes the light, space, tempo and confusion of Canada’s long war in a dusty, austere moonscape that was the birthplace of the Taliban.

Gross’s movie fills one of many gaping holes in Canadian cinema. Unlike the Yanks, Brits and Aussies, who have produced scores of seminal films such as Saving Private Ryan, the Great Escape, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gallipoli and Breaker Morant, Canadian filmmakers and actors have hardly ever examined the fighting spirit and moral conundrums that Canadian soldiers have confronted since colonial times.

I was keen to see Hyena Road because I had seen Route Hyena grow from a cart track to a highway during the years that I lived in Afghanista­n, reporting on the war there.

Those who know the history may note that it was not the western-based Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry who oversaw the road project, as the film had it. Rather, it was the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment battle group under Lt.-Col. Michel-Henri St-Louis. And that romances such as the one in the film between a forward deployed warrant officer and an ops officer in cramped Canadian company forward bases such as Sperwan Ghar and Masum Ghar would have been highly unlikely.

The plot revolved around an Afghan elder known as the Ghost. But the actor playing the Ghost did not look nearly old enough and his face was not sufficient­ly wind-wizened to have fought against the Russians as a mujahedeen in the 1980s and been a farmer for decades.

But these are minor quibbles. The film got a lot right. The plywood barracks and forward command post as well as Canada’s main operations room and leisure areas back at Kandahar Airfield were near perfect replicas of the real thing. The hardscrabb­le remote places where Canadians and Afghans often sat on the floor in front of each other sipping tea also looked authentic.

How the Canadians prepared for battle and the combat itself felt real. So did the banter and camaraderi­e depicted between the combat troops, who were so very different in attitude and outlook than most of the rear-echelon troops enjoying the relative comforts of Kandahar Airfield.

It was a nice touch to have ball hockey often being played in the background, too. Canada sent thousands of robust young men and women to Afghanista­n. For many of them, hockey became central to their limited social life so far from home.

The meetings between Afghan warlords and Canadian officers, including a general who looked and sounded a lot like Dean Milner, were tone perfect. The Canadians, including me, often could not figure out what was hiding behind the outwardly welcoming smiles and sweet words of so many Afghans. As charming as they were, they often had divided loyalties.

Lost in the plot was what a huge an undertakin­g building Route Hyena was and that it succeeded in seriously disrupting the Taliban while improving the lives of thousands of deeply impoverish­ed Kandaharis.

Gross’s film illustrate­s what can be done to explain to Canadians their own history. It should serve as a template for other filmmakers and a challenge to them to tackle other, equally compelling, untold stories about Canada at war.

 ?? CHRISTOS KALOHORIDI­S/ELEVATION PICTURES ?? From left, Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross and Kamiran Aldeo in Hyena Road, a film that fills one of the many gaping holes in Canadian cinema, Matthew Fisher writes.
CHRISTOS KALOHORIDI­S/ELEVATION PICTURES From left, Rossif Sutherland, Paul Gross and Kamiran Aldeo in Hyena Road, a film that fills one of the many gaping holes in Canadian cinema, Matthew Fisher writes.
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