Prairie Giant - The Tommy Douglas Story (2006)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I was upset to see that this movie did not give credit where credit is due. That is, Matthew Anderson was not named as co-creator of the health care system in Canada. Matt Anderson took a small step for his rural municipality of McKillop which became a giant leap for our nation. In 1939, at the provocation of Matt Anderson of Regional Municipality McKillop, the Municipal and Medical Hospital Services Act was enacted, allowing municipalities to levy a personal tax to finance medical services. When the CCF government came to power in 1944, their platform called for comprehensive health insurance. The Hospital Insurance Act came into effect on January 1, 1947, ensuring every citizen of the province hospital care without a charge. Tommy Douglas insisted on a small annual premium to help finance this insurance. The introduction of hospital insurance in Saskatchewan paved the way for the introduction of medical insurance.I encourage you to do an internet search for Matt Anderson of Bulyea, Saskatchewan to discover why he should be known as the "Grandfather of Medicare" in Canada.

"Prairie Giant" is a very good film about the great Canadian social democrat Tommy Douglas, the creator of the first Medicare system in North America, along with the first provincial government leader to sign into law a bill of rights and to legally guarantee collective bargaining in all sectors of the economy. Douglas was a witty and clever speaker, and Theriault does a good job at conveying his oratorical skills. The usual minuscule CBC budgets aren't noticeable here. A few of the minor actors don't seem terribly well cast: Paul Gross as Diefenbaker, Andy Jones as Mackenzie King, though they give it the old college try. Yet Don McKellar is good as Saskatchewan's finance minister, as is Kristin Booth as Irma Douglas, Tommy's wife. Douglas' final speech to the 50th Anniversary meeting of the CCF about the greed of private enterprise still rings true today in our globalized, McDonaldized, corporatized world.It would have been nice to see the political struggles of the late 1960s and 1970s, which were skipped over the film, but these were sacrificed to show the struggle over Medicare in detail. You might have thought this would be a somewhat dull three hours... yet it could easily have filled five hours and kept my attention. We need more films like this from the CBC.

This is a brilliant biop not only about medicare but about the whole career of a much loved politician. (That was not necessarily an oxymoron back then!) Michael Therriault has captured the essence of Tommy Douglas. Apparenly he studied many old TV clips and consulted Douglas' family. (Douglas had a Scots burr. Therriault does not use one. But nonetheless he has captured the man's peppery manner impressively.) Some of the other portrayals (MacKenzie King, John Diefenbaker, M.J.Coldwell) were not as effective. They've also captured the era with a stunning array of vintage cars, kitchen appliances, telephones, furniture and men and women's clothing. They have been interwoven effectively with old TV clips including one of Norman DePoe and David Lewis. (Remember them?) Let's hope this film doesn't end up in a basement at the CBC after its summer repeat. It's a legitimate Canadian story that should keep turning up on Canadian TV for several years and which, despite it's authentic Canadian character, would make good viewing almost anywhere in the English speaking world. Damn good stuff!

One might expect a mini series over 3 hours about the father of Medicare would be full of fillers but they would be mistaken. The life of T.C. Douglas goes by very quickly in this movie yet manages to cover much of his major accomplishments, personal highlights, and famous speeches. Tommy Douglas was first and foremost a great orator. His experience as a Baptist pastor honed his public speaking skills and also his moral commitment to his promises. "PRAIRIE GIANT" shows the extent of his persecution both religious ("The trouble with you Baptists is they don't hold you under the water long enough") and political (his C.C.F. party is referred to as Communists and the Red Menace). His accomplishments can best be viewed on related web pages and publications. The biopic wisely focuses on his personal life which in large part shaped his social attitudes. The music and cinematography are a big part of this film but Canadian films about the Depression and mid 20th Century have always been of high quality. The acting is also as good as anticipated. Many famous faces have yet to be posted on the IMDb list. For example, Nicholas Campbell (the star reporter on Ron Howard's Cinderella MAN for those of you who haven't seen DAVINCI'S INQUEST)plays Liberal E.J.Young, CODCO's Andy Jones plays P.M. MacKenzie King, and Aidan Devine (Gordie Howe on NET WORTH) plays M.J. Colewell. Of course, it would not seem like a Canadian biopic without R.H.Thompson who's been in docu-dramas about other Canadian heroes like Ken Taylor, Terry Fox, Ted Lindsay, Frederick Banting, and Pierre Trudeau. The producers really pulled out all the stops to make a movie that will live as long as the memory of T.C. Douglas lives on.