Gravity and Grace Special collaboration, La Presse ------------------- Canadian films, and more so those in what is sadly dubbed "The Rest Of Canada", are not plentiful. Think then of Canadian films that intelligently grapple with the unsolvable and vast question of Faith: they are shockingly rare and generally end up in a discussion about God with a capital G. But what about faith in general, just plain, ordinary everyday non-objectified faith, the kind that motivates us to get out of bed every morning and face the day? See Grace Fly is Pete McCormack`s directorial debut (Pete is a multifaceted artist, author, script-writer and singer, unknown in this area), and despite its numerous disguises, is indeed a film about faith. McCormack, in Montreal for the MFF, accompanied by the two lead actors, producers and friends, admitted as much when he sat down to chat with us. “I believe in God but I am not necessarily a Christian,” he says. “My goal in the film was to transcend the question of faith. Every character believes in something: in love, in truth, in God. These are human beings trying to find themselves and how they fit into this life.” The main character, Grace, who aches for freedom (marvelously played by Gina Chiarelli), is schizophrenic and in serious psychosis, so much so she leaves her dead mother’s body in the house for two weeks. Grace’s younger missionary brother Dominic (excellently played by Paul McGillion), is thus forced home to arrange his mother`s funeral and deal with his afflicted sister, tormented more than ever with obsessive thoughts that the world’s end is imminent. But what seems to be a drama about family and mental illness, slowly and subtly transforms itself into a genuine mystical drama, where all the characters interrogate their own lives, and what it is that gives us meaning. “The film asks: Who is crazy?” says McCormack. “Fundamentally, that is the question I wanted to ask, without moralizing. Isn’t everybody a little crazy? Is it really all that strange to believe the world is coming to an end? Everybody seems to believe that in one way or another.” Grace isn’t the only one looking for a way out. Her brother has run away to escape not only the troubles of his tormented family, but his own demons. The film clearly shows he did not have an easy childhood. “Confronted with his sister’s problems, Dominic is forced to face his own life,” says the writer. “The struggles of the two characters seem opposed but in fact are parallel. We believe that Dominic is there to save Grace, but in the end it’s not so clear who needs the saving.” Dominic`s slow inner journey, and that of his psychologist ex-girlfriend, culminates into one of the strangest, most original and most comical erotic scenes, when the missionary, opting for a more fitting position, is hit by devine enlightenment and rediscovers his faith at the moment of climax. The end of the film, which we must not reveal, is mysterious and will leave tongues wagging. “Is it a metaphor? Is it a dream? Is it poetry? Or is it true? Everybody is free to interpret the ending according to their own beliefs, their own faith.” The film-maker leaves it up to us. Faith, or at least frantic determination, is needed to produce a film in this country, where the maker himself must finance something he is never going to see. “It is farcical,” deplores McCormack. “We don’t watch our own films. In western Canada, film-makers are not supported. That’s what I love about Quebec and its films. In Quebec, 15% of the population goes to see Canadian films. In the rest of Canada it is less than 1%.” Despite the budget of a making-of, See Grace Fly has been touted by some as one of the most brilliant films to tackle religious themes since Jesus of Montreal, which McCormack does not deem an insult. KEEP THE FAITH BABY! |