G7 leaders at the beginning of Rumours
Noni Ford digs into Guy Maddin’s latest film, which satirizes the impotence of those with political power.
As the G7 summit world leaders come together to write a joint statement informing the world of their stance on an “important” political issue, it seems like they have their work cut out for them. They pose elegantly, looking jovial and capable for the photographers as they begin their meeting; they chat with each other amiably; and they convene for a lavish dinner reflecting on the history of this summit. During their dinner, however, world chaos begins to reveal these leaders’ ineffectiveness in actually making a difference under these conditions or putting a cogent thought down for this statement. While they are all good orators, none reveal themselves to be adept in any form of taking action.
Strange happenings unfold and still so many of them clutch steadfastly to their mission of putting a statement together. It’s clear that despite the abnormality of their night, this task — although falling lower and lower on the list of priorities — is one of the only ones they all feel they can competently accomplish. Even so, as indicated by my previous use of quotations, this political issue they never directly address even as they brainstorm their treatise seems to be on an issue they can’t quite nail down on paper. If the issue itself was indeed important, you’d think they would feel more of a compulsion to write, and yet as they argue over the right way to begin or even what points to emphasize, it becomes clearer that they are crafting a statement because it fulfills an expectation rather than being an action any of them feel passionately about.
Our characters attempting to escape the grounds of the manor
Looking at the film as a commentary on world leaders, I think it is clear that while they yield high positions of power they are often as unequipped for disaster as anyone else — maybe even more so than the average person since they have so much staff that they work with in order to accomplish anything. This is humorously shown when they all try to frantically call assistants and attendants as it soon dawns on them that something is amiss. While the film could simply be just trying to humanize political leaders, showing that they struggle to find words for what they want to say and can be impulsive and emotional as they follow their own wants and desires, I think the story goes a step further.
These figures may be fallible humans, but more than that they are quite useless leaders. They can figure out a plan to get themselves to shelter and to help each other out with small disagreements, but as the world around them becomes unrecognizable, they don’t have the slightest inkling how to fix things. They resort to just trying to get themselves to a safer location while still jotting down notes here and there for their draft of this statement. While you could say most people would do the same in a state of emergency, it still is odd that as leaders they wouldn’t be more concerned about the populus and what the implications are for the world. Instead, they are busy trying to deal with their own issues and the world is more of an afterthought.
Roy Dupuis in Rumours
While this story might sound more dramatic, the film leans solidly into humor for most of its screen time. Of course there are some characterizations of people’s sensibilities that align with those of their nation, which is directly commented on by one character to another during a point of conflict. Although some members of the party fade into the background, one of the more standout performances is that of the Canadian prime minister portrayed by Roy Dupuis. I wondered during the film what the reception of the movie would be to Canadians since this screenplay comes from the minds of three Canadian writers and the depiction of the PM in this film has quite a few unflattering links with the current PM. America’s president is oddly enough played by Charles Dance, who I’ve seen act in his native British accent so many times that I found it hard to accept him fully in this role. Cate Blanchett as the Chancellor of Germany molds better into this role, but sometimes I wondered if the humor would’ve played better had they cast all the actors with the nationalities they were depicting. Mixing horror and comedy together can be difficult but having the actors in their more natural accents and demeanors might have helped boost the humor.
A fateful meeting commences in Rumours
National stereotypes aside, though, the filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson did not pull any punches in showing the ridiculousness of political figureheads. The film is not a call to action or a denouncement of one particular leader, it is more a snapshot of power and politics at this moment in the 21st century. These people are just figures, and while they can (barely) tie a speech together, they aren’t who we should be looking to for solace or hope, making one question the need for institutions that produce rousing words with minimal action and call it an achievement.
Rumours will be screened at IU Cinema on February 28. This screening will be introduced by Jean-Thomas Tremblay, an associate professor of Environmental Humanities and the director of the Graduate Program in Social & Political Thought at York University.