Journey to the Edge of the World
Comedian Billy Connolly embarks on a spectacular journey along the legendary Northwest Passage. His travels in Canada's rugged North include hiking through the jagged landscape of the Auyuittuq National Park, flying above the Tombstone mountains on the way to Dawson City, before ending on Vancouver Island with its breathtaking views of the Pacific.
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billy connolly
It should almost be required viewing for Canadians... there's so much more to this vast land than the cities squashed against the border with America. What a diverse nation we are is seen in this outsider's sometimes light-hearted view of us. There are times Connolly hits a nerve and makes us jump, just to see us as others do, and sometimes to show us too much of what we don't know about the lives and struggles of our fellows. And sometimes he shows us the raw side - perhaps the side would would rather not acknowledge - but that is real life for many . But all in all , we see a huge spectrum of diverse lives, jobs, lifestyles and persons that are the mosaic called Canada.
This is the kind of show we should make about our own land!!
Albeit that I emigrated here from England in 1990, I consider myself a "big C" Canadian. I'm certainly not English any more, that's for sure! I have grown to love this country passionately over the last 20 years...its history, it's peoples, (yes, "peoples") and its geography.
As a life-long Billy Connolly fan, I was thrilled to dicover his program about Canada being aired on Knowledge. Connolly takes a good-humoured, if brutally honest look at Canada though the eyes of a foreigner. He describes himslef as feeling like an alien when he visits the communities on Baffin Island. How true that description is. But then he also brings that fresh "alien" perspective (one might say, "unbiased") to the equation. He deftly and with a sense of ease manages to blend satire with the practical, and beauty with the tragic. His awe among the fjords contrasts with his sorrow for the loss of Inuit culture. He explains admirably the tempering of his clear guilt and revulsion during a seal kill by the knowledge and understanding of the practicalities of the remains of the Inuit way.
Connolly is engaging and establishes the viewer as if they were a priviledged audience of one. You feel at once entertained, but then educated as well...and in a way that is both uplifting and pleasantly surprising.
The question is, "why hasn't this already been done by a Canadian?" It wouldn't even have to have the inherrant humour of Connolly, but if it did we have the talent right here. Rick Mercer would do an admirable job!
We have precious little content like this about our own nation. It is almost as if we are embarrassed or coy for some reason, as Canadians, to admit or say publicly just what an overwhelmingly gorgeous country we have. It's time we stopped being the champions of understatement and started a bit more "flag waving"! I say there should be more shows aired like this...made in Canada, by Canadians...nation-building shows that show us how great our country really is and how great our peoples are!
A great program...highly recommended and well worth watching. Well done to the Knowledge Network for airing it!!
billy connolly
I agree with 'pwblackmore on Tuesday March 9, 10:09pm'
"It should almost be required viewing for Canadians... there's so much more to this vast land than the cities squashed against the border with America."
Where was any of this in all the film footage used for the Olympics?
I grow so weary of being told that "we are all united" because of hockey!