When I first saw the poster for this film, I thought it won't be a good one. I was positively surprised to experience a special atmosphere! The film's almost 2 hours long, but believe me, I didn't feel that it was that long because the artists played their role astonishingly well made me feel like I was part of the family and the film had interesting, exciting events and outcomes. A family with their teenager son lives on a farm somewhere in Canada. They are working from dawn to dusk and still facing bankruptcy. A tragedy will dramatically change their lives... When you think this will be another event-less film, the drama strikes and you the viewer feel profoundly sorry for what had happened and maybe you'd think you'd react better if it would had happened to you. It's not a mourning film, so don't be afraid that the director will endlessly reflect on the main causes of life :). The son is another amazing performance! I felt sorry for his condition but in the end I think there's no man an earth right now who doesn't have a Cross to bear! I don't usually watch films from overseas. I don't like Northern American films but Canadian films haven't let me down that often... so far :)
3 Reviews
Life as a farmer in the global warming era.
Reno-Rangan24 August 2016
This is a Canadian French language film written and directed by a newcomer. I have seen lots of films about the farmers and it is not just one of them to get over with after a watch. It was thoroughly analysed and presented to us. I mean the urban people, we cause all kinds of pollutions and it is affecting the natural world thousands of miles away. I know industries are the main source of the pollutions, but they're operating because of our demand. The film was about a family, but the storyline had a slight influence on these topics.
The film sets in somewhere in the remote place of the Quebec province. Centres on a dairy farm couple and their teen son during one summer season. It was not like the previous year, severe drought already claimed one of the members of a family in the village and now this little family is about to go bankrupt. With the troubles ahead, how they're going to manage, especially after an unexpected accident that shattered their peaceful life.
The main focus was on the mother and her son. Those two actors played their characters wonderfully. But I thought they were real farmers, because there is a scene involving a cow giving birth to a calf and I was totally stunned for it. That looked so real to me, but there might be some tricks like CGI. Considering it a low cost film, that idea can be ruled out. Anyway, it was not all about the farm, most of the film was about their personal life. As a family working together to keep the dairy farm get going and individually theirs different interests.
"Farming wasn't the life I wanted."
This is widely unnoticed great drama and the reason is it is a small budget film, involving not so famous actors, the theme and of course the unknown director. But it has everything and even more than that, what a rural based subject should focus. Especially in the current world status as the global warming is a big concern, it committed to reveals why the agriculture is shrinking, and how those who are depending on them are directly affected was boldly told.
You know, like the title says, how precious the wetlands are for the dairy farm animals. It was not intended as a message film, but quite understandable if we use our common sense. Those people work hard, but sometimes theirs hard effort goes unpaid. Besides struggling to make a living, they too have a life and desires to fulfill.
Regarding the narration, the introduction was very casual and had no end twist. But simply displayed the film characters as what the real rural people do when they're in such situation. Especially those mourning parts were well detailed, and as there's no other way, they fight to recover from the tragedy. Besides, a few other stuffs like finding sexuality, affair, drinking, smoking are all covered in it.
The film had almost the two hour run, but well developed and filled with quite unpredictable scenes. Film length is always a concern when it is a pure drama, because drama elements won't bring excitements, so one must have patience to watch them. But for this, I think everything worked out so well. I didn't find any boring parts, there's always something developed in the gaps to keep the viewers alive. The screenwriter must me praised for that. This film is worth a watch, but that does not mean a must see. Whatever, surely it needs the audience to spread the words around, how good it is.
8/10
The film sets in somewhere in the remote place of the Quebec province. Centres on a dairy farm couple and their teen son during one summer season. It was not like the previous year, severe drought already claimed one of the members of a family in the village and now this little family is about to go bankrupt. With the troubles ahead, how they're going to manage, especially after an unexpected accident that shattered their peaceful life.
The main focus was on the mother and her son. Those two actors played their characters wonderfully. But I thought they were real farmers, because there is a scene involving a cow giving birth to a calf and I was totally stunned for it. That looked so real to me, but there might be some tricks like CGI. Considering it a low cost film, that idea can be ruled out. Anyway, it was not all about the farm, most of the film was about their personal life. As a family working together to keep the dairy farm get going and individually theirs different interests.
"Farming wasn't the life I wanted."
This is widely unnoticed great drama and the reason is it is a small budget film, involving not so famous actors, the theme and of course the unknown director. But it has everything and even more than that, what a rural based subject should focus. Especially in the current world status as the global warming is a big concern, it committed to reveals why the agriculture is shrinking, and how those who are depending on them are directly affected was boldly told.
You know, like the title says, how precious the wetlands are for the dairy farm animals. It was not intended as a message film, but quite understandable if we use our common sense. Those people work hard, but sometimes theirs hard effort goes unpaid. Besides struggling to make a living, they too have a life and desires to fulfill.
Regarding the narration, the introduction was very casual and had no end twist. But simply displayed the film characters as what the real rural people do when they're in such situation. Especially those mourning parts were well detailed, and as there's no other way, they fight to recover from the tragedy. Besides, a few other stuffs like finding sexuality, affair, drinking, smoking are all covered in it.
The film had almost the two hour run, but well developed and filled with quite unpredictable scenes. Film length is always a concern when it is a pure drama, because drama elements won't bring excitements, so one must have patience to watch them. But for this, I think everything worked out so well. I didn't find any boring parts, there's always something developed in the gaps to keep the viewers alive. The screenwriter must me praised for that. This film is worth a watch, but that does not mean a must see. Whatever, surely it needs the audience to spread the words around, how good it is.
8/10
Grim But Well Made Quebec Film, Didn't Make It To US
lchadbou-326-2659213 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Marecages (Wetlands) is an example of the numerous interesting French language movies being made in Quebec, that never get distributed (except later perhaps on DVD) in the United States, let alone in the non French speaking parts of Canada itself. This one is a grim story of a dairy farm during hard times, centered on a 14 year old boy. His father dies in an accident with a grain cart, for which the boy takes some blame because of his negligence; he also takes blame for the death of his brother earlier in the family story. When another man tries to fill his father's shoes by courting the woman and helping out on the property, the son takes a dislike to him. Nevertheless the man takes the boy to a local night club where women pole dance, to help bond with him. But the boy is more interested in men, as we see when he watches another man urinate, and later follows that man into a shower in a fair. When the man who is trying to supplant the father forces himself on the mother and she rejects him, things come to a violent end as the man kills some cows, and we hear the ominous sound of rain gathering in the background.(In an earlier scene we had seen a calf die as it was being extricated from its mother.)In trying to say some things about masculinity and patriarchy,director Guy Edoin makes his movie somewhat more melodramatic than it may need to be, but he definitely has an eye and keeps us interested in what he is presenting. Hopefully we will see more good work from him in the future.
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