The Valour and the Horror: An Honourable Memorial? - Page: 2

There has been much controversy around the CBC miniseries, mostly involving the bias of the producers. A recurring theme throughout the three films is the lack of training the Canadian army had, and what seems to often be the uncaring attitude of the British army towards their Canadian colonists. It sometimes seems that the movies are anti-Canadian - the German and Japanese armies in these films are not only better trained, they're better soldiers. The Canadian, British, and American armies are basically a group of inept baseball players floating around from war to war without having a clue what they're doing. The ones that survive do so through flukes of nature.

Both Bercuson and Wise, in their essays at the beginning of the book, express distaste for the way the McKenna brothers went about relaying their message. One of Wise's biggest criticisms is of the way much of the information relayed in the films is implied as secret or hidden by the Canadian government. He contradicts this viewpoint many times by offering up books and literature written on the subject of these wars. Both take issue with the viewpoint from which the videos are produced. At the beginning of each video, you hear the words, "This is a true story. In some cases, actors speak the documented words of soldiers and nurses, but there is no fiction." Listening to those words, a viewer might assume that every single word spoken within is the whole and complete truth. But what makes the McKenna brothers' truth so much more valid than everyone else's truth?

The biggest issue, surrounding the film, though, is whether or not it is useful as a historical reference. After reading much of the controversy surrounding the series, the answer is no. The idea that each and every thing located in the films is true and documents is a false one. As shown by Morgan in his response to the Galafilm response, there is no documented evidence for many of the words claimed to have been spoken by the actors, and many of the words spoken by the actors in the series were never spoken at all by the real people.

I admit to being unimpressed with the series as a completely factual depiction of WWII events. I think it could have been much better utilized as a "based on a true story" mini-series that acknowledges that it is still a dramatization. The semi-fictional "The Thin Red Line" managed to do it, and is even being heralded as an excellent showing of the events of war. Throughout the reading of the critiques in "The Valour and the Horror Revisited," and even through watching the films, it was impossible not to notice what seemed like highly biased material written with little/no regard to the idea that truth is in the eye of the beholder. I was also very surprised to note that it seemed poorly researched, like they had gone down to their local library, picked up a few books, and written down exactly what they found, without bothering to double check their sources.

"The Valour and the Horror" is a worthwhile series of movies to watch, even in schools, but if "The Valour and the Horror" is to be shown, the beginning part about "there is no fiction" should be removed. It should be made clear for any class viewing these films that this is the truth as the McKenna brothers show it, and not necessarily the gospel. It's also equally as important for people viewing this film to know about the controversy surrounding it. If a class of students is going to watch "The Valour and the Horror" they should also have to read "The Valour and the Horror Revisited" as companion literature. The McKenna brothers could have greatly increased the validity of their films if they'd offered what even a high school student is required to add to a historical work - a detailed list of works cited and consulted. When asked to provide sources, the McKenna brothers were either unable to, or unwilling to.

References Consulted

In order to write these pieces (the next three articles will discuss, in more detail, the plusses and minuses of the three made-for-CBC movies in the series), I consulted a number of sources. Referenced in these articles are:

1. "The Valour and the Horror: A Report for the CBC Ombudsman," in David J. Bercuson and S. F. Wise, eds., The Valour and the Horror Revisted (Québec: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994)
2. Savage Christmas: Hong Kong 1941, dir. Brian McKenna, Galafilm Inc., 1992.
3. Death by Moonlight: Bomber Command, dir. Brian McKenna, Galafilm Inc., 1992.
4. In Desperate Battle: Normandy 1944, dir. Brian McKenna, Galafilm Inc., 1992.
5. Oliver Lindsay, The Lasting Honour (London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd., 1978)
6. "The Valour and the Horror." [http://www.valourandhorror.com].
7. Col. C. P. Stacey, Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain, and the Pacific (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1967)
8. Desmond Morton, A Military History of Canada, Third Edition (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Inc., 1992)