Escape to Canada (2005)

Original title

Escape To Canada

Directed by

Albert Nerenberg

Genre

documentary film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

Canada

Runtime

1h 20m

Rated

PG

Rating

5.1 of 10 from 8 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary compares Canada and the United States in the early 2000s. It focuses on Canada's legalization of same-sex marriage and relaxed marijuana laws, as well as its refusal to join the Iraq War. The film argues that these policies made Canada a haven for Americans seeking more liberal freedoms.

satiricalupbeatinformativethoughtfuloptimisticplayfulhopefulwry

What happens

Escape to Canada (U.S.: Land of the Freer) is a 2005 Canadian satirical documentary film written and directed by Albert Nerenberg, with cinematography by producer Shannon Brown, the debut feature of their production company, Elevator Films, commissioned by the Documentary Channel, Canal D, and the National Film Board of Canada. The film examines the results of Canada's relaxing of its marijuana laws at the same time that same-sex marriage became legal, along with Canada's abstention from the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq having made the country a perceived haven for progressive Americans. The documentary's events begin in the summer of 2003 when both same-sex marriage and marijuana were legalized (temporarily, in the case of the latter). The film underscores the contrast between the liberal movement in Canada and the more conservative attitude in the U.S., the premise being that "liberal attitudes beget liberal laws", and that "Canada, and not the U.S., is North America's pre-eminent freedom-loving country." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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