Self Defense a.k.a. Siege (1983)
Kinda amusing how the poster for this tries to paint it as some Death Wish wannabe when the actual movie is about people coming under attack from a right wing hate group after a gay man fleeing a massacre seeks shelter there. A seedy little Canucksploitation action / siege horror hybrid -- it’d make a solid double feature with Assault on Precinct 13 -- with one of the ballsier final shots I can remember. Wouldn’t be surprised if the makers of The Purge movies were fans. It’s on Shudder and on blu-ray from Severin under the title Siege.
I thought I ought to know something about my own country, which is Canada, so I decided to read Now You Know Canada: 150 Years of Fascinating Facts (2017) by Doug Lennox. It’s an alright book, but there is just too many sports facts, and as much as I cheered for the Raptors in 2019 throughout the NBA season (which they won!) and cheer on Canada in any international competitions, I am not that interested in sports. If my calculations are correct, more than 50% of the book is on sports. Like... why!? Is Canada so boring, that most of our “interesting” facts are sports related!? Kind of sad...
Anyways, I didn’t think Canada would have much, if any, connection with Egypt, at least not in this kind of book (it’s quite far from Egypt, and it’s a rather new country). But, alas, I was surprised. Lester B. Pearson, who was the minister of foreign affairs (and later prime minister) and who the international airport in Toronto is named after, received the Nobel Peace Prize in defusing a potential international disaster, in which Egypt was involved. The potential disaster was the 1956 Suez Crisis.
You can read more about Pearson’s involvement in the 1956 Suez Crisis at the Canadian Encyclopedia: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/suez-crisis. And here’s a chronology of the Suez Crisis: http://www.suezcrisis.ca/chronology.html.
[Screenshot of a page from the eBook version of Now You Know Canada]
It was only after rewatching this film....that I realised that I was looking at Mac and Brian.
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(Hopefully by this point you’ve finished all 106 minutes of 'Lars and the Real Girl’, the kind of person who isn’t bothered by spoilers, or are just deciding if you still want to keep watching.)
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Which is a testament to Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider that I believed that they have the right chemistry in this and the the wrong one while in The Newsroom.
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HIGHLIGHT:
EXT. THE LINDSTROM HOUSE (BACKYARD) - NIGHT
LARS angrily walks to the woodpile and shrugs off his jacket. KARIN approaches.
KARIN
Are you okay?
He puts a log on the stump and picks up the axe.
LARS
How would she feel if I just left her?
KARIN shakes her head, confused.
LARS
If I just abandoned her like that.
WHACK! The log splits in two.
KARIN
Whoa, wait. She didn't abandon you. She'll be back.
He puts the next victim---err...log---on the stump.
LARS
How do I know that, huh?
He pulls the axe from the stump but causes the log to topple over.
KARIN takes a couple of steps back.
LARS
People do whatever they want.
He picks up the runaway log and positions it. WHACK!
LARS
They don't care.
KARIN
No, we all care.
A new log takes its place.
KARIN
Lars, we do care.
LARS
No, you don't.
WHACK!
KARIN shakes her head.
KARIN
That is...
(voice rising)
That is just not true! God!
She starts walking off but turns back.
KARIN
Every person in this town bends over backwards to make Bianca feel at home.
LARS grabs another log.
KARIN
Why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do, huh? Huh?
LARS
I don't know.
KARIN
Because of you!! Because all these people love you! We push her wheelchair. We drive her to work. We drive her home. We wash her. We dress her. We get her up, we put her to bed.
LARS looks at KARIN, eyes welling up.
KARIN
We carry her. And she is not petite, Lars. Bianca is a big, big girl. None of this is easy for any of us, but we do it.
KARIN growls in frustration.
KARIN
We do it for you! So don't you dare tell me how we don't care.
Words taken from Now You Know Canada by Doug Lennox:
Pablum (n.)
proprietary. a soft cereal for infants.
fleet-of-foot (n.)
literary. able to run fast. [x]
nutritional science (n.)
the science that studies the physiological process of nutrition (primarily human nutrition), interpreting the nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. [x]
calisthenics (n.)
gymnastic exercises to achieve bodily fitness and grace of movement.
champagne (n.)
a white sparkling wine from Champagne.
Marquis wheat (n.)
a variety of wheat that ripens in a relatively short growing season, allowing wheat to be grown further north in Canada.
SS (n.)
historical. a ruthless Nazi special police force that included the Gestapo, founded in 1925 by Hitler as a personal bodyguard, and headed by Himmler from 1929 until 1945. It was responsible for security and for administering the concentration camps, and also provided combat units independent of the armed forces.
anti-gravity suit, G-suit (n.)
a close-fitting garment covering the legs and abdomen that is worn by the crew of high-speed aircraft and can be pressurized to prevent blackout during certain manœuvres. [x]
telecommunications (n.)
the branch of technology concerned with the communication over a distance by telephone, radio, television, etc.
Words taken from Now You Know Canada by Doug Lennox:
William Avery “Billy” Bishop
(1894–1956) Canadian fighter pilot. A legendary ace during the First World War, Bishop was credited with destroying 72 German aircraft and became the first Canadian pilot to win the Victoria Cross.
Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen
(1892–1918) German aviator. He was the top German fighter pilot of the First World War, downing 80 Allied aircraft between 1916 and 1918 before being shot down.
dogfight (n.)
a close combat between fighter aircraft.
war hero (n.)
a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. [x]
Battle of the Somme
a battle of the First World War between British-led forces (including Canadians) and the Germans, on the Western Front in northern France July to November 1916, in which the Germans were forced to retreat a few kilometres at a cost of more than a million casualties on both sides.
John Cabot
(Giovanni Caboto, d. c.1498) Venetian explorer and navigator whose English-backed voyages were the basis of Britain’s claim to Canada. On his voyage of 1497 he became the first known European to land in North America, arriving possibly in Cape Breton Island, Labrador, or Newfoundland. His second voyage in 1498 never returned, and he is believed to have perished somewhere in the northwest Atlantic.
D-Day (n.)
the day (6 June 1944) on which Allied forces invaded northern France to begin the liberation of western Europe.
Highway of Heroes
a designated highway on which a convoy of vehicles carrying a fallen soldier’s body often travel. [x, y]
Hudson’s Bay Company
originally a British colonial trading company set up by Royal Charter in 1670 and granted all lands draining into Hudson Bay for purposes of commercial exploitation, principally trade in fur. The company amalgamated with the rival North-West Company in 1821 and continued to operate in the area until finally handing over control of its territory to the new Canadian government in 1870. It is now a retail and wholesale operation.
Cape Breton
a regional municipality of eastern Cape Breton Island, comprising the urban communities of Dominion, Glace Bay, Louisbourg, New Waterford, North Sydney, and Sydney Mines as well as the metropolitan area of Sydney; population (2001) 105,968.
Words taken from Now You Know Canada by Doug Lennox:
republican (adj.)
of or constituted as a republic.
uprising (n.)
a rebellion or revolt.
cadet (n.)
a member of a corps receiving elementary military or police training, especially for the rank of an officer.
commando (n.)
military. a group of soldiers specially trained for carrying out quick attacks in enemy areas.
winningest (adj.)
North American, sport informal. that has won the most often; that has recorded or achieved the most victories.
wallop (v.)
pound or strike with great force.
timezone (n.)
each of the longitudinal divisions of the global throughout which a standard time is used, being one hour or one half-hour behind that of the division to its east.
induct (v.)
introduce formally into an office, position, etc.
Normandy
a former province of northwest France with its coastline on the English Channel, now divided into the two regions of Lower Normandy (Basse-Normandie) and Upper Normandy (Haute-Normandie); chief city is Rouen.
intercollegiate (adj.)
existing or conduced between colleges or universities.
Words taken from Now You Know Canada by Doug Lennox:
prejudice (n.)
a preconceived opinion.
Métis (n.)
(especially in Canada) a person of mixed Indigenous and European descent.
War of 1812
a conflict between the United States and the United Kingdom in 1812–14. British interference in the US trade during the Napoleonic Wars led to US calls for the annexation of British North America and finally to a declaration of war on 18 June 1812. Most of the fighting occurred along the Canadian border. After the changing of hands of a number of forts, and the burning of public buildings in York (Toronto) and Washington, the Treaty of Ghent restored all conquered territories to their pre-war owners.
Red River Rebellion (n.)
Canadian history. an uprising in 1869–70 by the Metis of the Red River Settlement under the leadership of Louis Riel, in response to the takeover of their territory by the government of Canada.
Louis Riel
(1844–1885) Canadian political leader. He headed the rebellion of the Métis at Red River Settlement (now in Manitoba) in 1869 to protect against the planned transfer of the territorials holdings of the Hudson’s Bay Company to Canadian jurisdiction; forming a provisional government with himself at its head, he oversaw negotiations for acceptable terms for union with Canada, including the establishment of the province of Manitoba, and was executed for treason after leading the Northwest Rebellion (1884–1885).
Famous Five (n.)
“Alberta’s ‘Famous Five’ were petitioners in the groundbreaking Persons Case. The case was brought before the Supreme Court of Canada in 1927. It was decided in 1929 by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Canada’s highest appeals court at the time. The group was led by judge Emily Murphy. It also included Henrietta Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby. Together, the five women had many years of active work in various campaigns for women’s rights dating back to the 1880s and 1890s. They enjoyed a national—and in the case of McClung, an international—reputation among reformers.” [x]
Orangemen (n.)
a member of the Orange Order.
militiaman (n.)
a member of a militia.
Vimy Ridge, Battle of
an Allied attack on the German position of Vimy Ridge, near Arras in France, during the First World War. One of the key positions on the Western Front, it had resisted earlier French and British assaults before it was taken by Canadian troops on 9 April 1917 at the cost of heavy casualties.
Passchendaele, Battle of
the third Battle of Ypres during the First World War, a period of trench warfare from July to November in 1917 near the village of Passchendaele in west Belgium. The village was the furthest point of an Allied advance that saw appallingly heavy loss of life in a sea of mud. The village was eventually captured by Canadian troops after a two-week assault with Canadian losses of over 15,000 dead and wounded. The battle brought the Allies no eventual strategic gain, however.
Words taken from Now You Know Canada by Doug Lennox:
gutsy (adj.)
characterized by or blowing in strong winds.
ocean liner (n.)
an oceangoing passenger ship, operating either as one unit of a regular scheduled service or as a cruise ship. [x]
arbitration (n.)
law. the hearing and resolution of a dispute by a referee, usually chosen and agreed upon by all disputants, who has the power to impose a settlement.
Canuck (n.)
informal. a Canadian.
smear (v.)
daub or mark with a greasy or sticky substance or with something that stains.
civic (adj.)
of a city; municipal.
crozier (n.)
the curled tip of a young plan, especially a fern.
brewery (n.)
a place where beer etc. is brewed commercially.
frontiersman, frontierswoman (n.)
a man, woman living on a frontier, or on or beyond the borders of civilization.
