The Wars

The Wars (1983)

Robert Ross (Brent Carver) lives a protected adolescence in a well-off Toronto suburb. Secretive and withdrawn, he shares his thoughts only with his sister Rowena (Anne-Marie MacDonald) who is mentally disabled. He feels compassion for his weak and conventional father. He avoids any confrontation with his mother (Martha Henry), a dominating woman whose despondency at having given birth to a handicapped child has turned to bitterness. Rowena occupies a central position in Robert's existence of daydreams and make-believe. When she dies, Robert clashes openly with his family, and decides to take himself in hand. It's 1914. He enrolls in the Canadian army, and, after training in Alberta and Montreal, he finds himself in England and France. The war becomes another way for him to resolve his conflicts, his dramas, his passions--his wars.

Date of release
1983-11-20
TMDB
5.0 / 10 (4)
Runtime
1h 58m
Genres
Drama, War
Director
Robin Phillips

Casting

Interesting facts

The Wars is a Canadian historical drama, directed by Robin Phillips and released in 1983. An adaptation of the Governor General's Award-winning novel The Wars by Timothy Findley, the film centres on Robert Ross, the privileged and immature son of an upper class Rosedale family who enlists to serve in the Canadian Army during World War I. The film's original musical score was composed by Glenn Gould prior to his death.

Production

The film was co-produced by Nielsen-Ferns International and the National Film Board of Canada, the first time the NFB had ever collaborated on a narrative feature film with a commercial production company. Shooting began in May 1981 near Longview, Alberta, but within days Phillips had to revise the production schedule due to unforeseen late snowfall in the area.

Other scenes for the film were shot in Calgary, Kleinburg, Hamilton and Montreal. However, due to technical problems with the sound, much of the film had to be rerecorded in the post-production phase, resulting in one of the key delays from the film's originally planned release date of early 1982. These sound issues were eventually resolved.

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