Matthew Rankin

(On Cable TV, March 2020) Oh wow. Oh wooow, what a movie. A “biography” of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, The Twentieth Century is an acid trip through Canadian history unlike anything anyone could imagine. Writer-director Matthew Rankin uses historical fact as a springboard to a demented reimagining of turn-of-the-twentieth-century events. The more you know about the period, the funnier it becomes—characters are perverted, exaggerated and made to fit into a nightmarish vision of Canada as part German expressionism and part wartime propaganda. Sexual perversion abounds, as is very Canadian repression and Big-Brother-style visuals. This all has to be seen to be believed, whether it’s all French-Canadians portrayed as cultish pacifists, three major roles played by crossdressing actors, an accurate depiction of Winnipeg, or Canadian politics portrayed as boarding school tests of character. (In lieu of a plot summary, the film’s Wikipedia page has a hilariously thoughtful “Historical Divergence” section.) The Twentieth Century’s limited budget is bested by extreme stylization, completely off-the-wall characterization and a profoundly ironic stance. If the film sends viewers rushing back to their history books, fine—a lot more of the film is based on fact than one would think, including some seemingly overdone elements of the climax. [September 2024: While King is widely known as one of Canada’s best Prime Minister, he was quite eccentric in ways that aren’t shown by this film—his fascination for Spiritism is well known, but a visit to his former domain near Ottawa will show that he was like a crazy cat lady, except for ruins—he even pocketed part of Hitler’s bunker during a visit to Berlin!] Still, even as I audibly cackled throughout the film, I am worried that someone will take the film as stone-cold fact. Hey Canadians, let’s keep this awesome inside joke within our borders, eh?