We think travel is hard now, what with cramped airline seating, or multi-lane highways, but try Antarctic travel 1800s fashion, and you would be surprised at how much you love those cramped lavatories on airplanes. Passage is a retrospective documentary as the film takes a dip back into the past at one of the most influential moments in history and dissects its merit of truth and heresay. 

Film Review
Title: Passage (Documentary)
John Walker Productions
Director: John Walker
Producers: John Walker, Andrea Nemtin and Kent Martin
Length: 110 minutes
National Film Board Of Canada 

HOT DOCS Passage WEBSITE  

3 ½ Stars 

Reviewed By: Kindah Mardam Bey (Ontario Correspondent - Canada)

We think travel is hard now, what with cramped airline seating, or multi-lane highways, but try Antarctic travel 1800s fashion, and you would be surprised at how much you love those cramped lavatories on airplanes. Passage is a retrospective documentary as the film takes a dip back into the past at one of the most influential moments in history and dissects its merit of truth and heresay. 

Sir John Franklin headed an expedition with 128 men to discover the Northwest Passage, only to leave the debris of a ruined ship and a perished crew. Even more tragic was the ugly truth that many of the crew divulged into cannibalism as a last attempt at survival. Meanwhile, Franklin's wife back home in England, was desperate for answers. The truth came from John Rae, an employee of The Hudson's Bay Company, who managed to discover the truth behind the missing crew and to be the man who would finally discover the Northwest Passage. However, a virtual witch hunt was established after the news of Franklin's crew slipping into madness and then savagery. Rae was denounced from Lady Franklin, the British government and even novelist of the day Charles Dickens; all the blame of massacre was placed on the Inuit nation. Franklin became a celebrated hero and the discoverer in history who found the Northwest Passage. Muddy waters was all that remained of an embittered and glossied version of historical facts.

As this new century has begun to unfold its fruits, perhaps this was a most fitting intersection to dig up history and reanalyze it for better or worse. Filmmaker John Walker weaves the intricate tale of John Franklin, his crew, and John Rae into a multi-layered documentary that highlights the perceptions of history. Based on Passage, I would venture that all history is subjective, even when it is caught on film. John Walker (the third ‘John' if you have been counting) tells the story of the Northwest Passage through dramatic action and documentary sleuthism. John Walker tells this version of history from John Rae's point of view; from Rae's childhood in Orkney, to his days at the Hudson Bay Company and his days under British society's scrutiny. Rae comes across in Walker's film as a man who happened upon the discovery of the truth and was ostricized for saying so; in essence, shooting the innocent who pointed out that the Emporer had no clothes on.  

Then Passage takes an interesting turn, as we follow Tagak Curley, and Inuit Statesman, on his visit to England and his search for an apology to his people for the claim that was made in the 1800s. Curley and a discussion panel of ‘authorities' on the subject highlights the intensity of history and the dynamic reflection it still holds on society today. History is alive and well, and worthy of some heated discussion. Passage concludes with the panel discussion and an apology from Charles Dicken's great-great-grandson to Tagak Curley on behalf of his distant relative. Curley accepts the apology with grace, honour and respect. Passage is a riveting look at how relevant history still is and the importance of accuracy when possible; after all, history may be watching.