Cronenberg and Egoyan

Canadians David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan are two of the world's most prestigious directors, which is all the more remarkable when one considers that both have avoided Hollywood and stayed in Canada (rare feat these days). In the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, Denys Arcand remains one of the great auteurs in world cinema (in my opinion at least), yet he too avoids Hollywood despite his fluency in English. I say bravo to all of them.

I think, all things considered, that Egoyan is a superior director to Cronenberg, although both share a common thread: the exploration of the demonic, 'secret' quasi-psychoses that lurk and fester within all of us.

Bob Hoskins's character (Hilditch) in 'Felicia's Journey' is yet another example of an Egoyan character who goes through life as a 'normal, kindly' man who harbours a secret, undetected,'quiet' propensity toward inexplicable violence and hatred.

In Canada, Cronenberg tends to get more publicity. Egoyan is frequently misunderstood. Leonard Maltin, as just one critic, doesn't seem to 'get' Egoyan, whose work is often philosophically intriguing in the style of a few French and Italian directors. I still think his 'The Sweet Hereafter' (1997) is one of the greatest films of the 1990s.

Even in 'Felicia's Journey,' Egoyan revisits territory that can be found in all his films in various forms: injustice inflicted on those who are emotionally devastated and voiceless (in this case, Felicia). Maybe it's a bit fanciful of me, but I think a lot of Egoyan's thinking is influenced by his passsionate struggle to achieve justice for the long-unresolved Armenian genocide of 1915 (a reported one million Armenians wiped out by the Turkish Army). This Cairo-born, Canadian-raised auteur of Armenian descent has been profoundly affected by this genocide, which killed many of his distant relatives. And yet, as he reminds us in 'Ararat' (2002), the Turkish government, to this day, steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the slaughter.