Canadian bacon

Mid 1990s The end of the Cold War , contrary to the calculations of the American leadership, has negative consequences for the United States . With the fall of the eastern bloc, the “free world" led by the United States was left without the image of a constant adversary and countries with which it is simply possible to fight. As a result, the US military-industrial complex ceases to receive government orders, the economy begins to stagnate, and many factories that previously produced military products are closed. The desperate, not-so-distant president of the United States ( Alan Alda ) is trying to find a way out of this situation in order to raise his sharply dropped rating on the eve of new elections .

In parallel, a vivid illustration of the state of the country's economy is presented - the small city of Niagara Falls on the border with Canada, strikingly resembling the hometown of Michael Moore Flint . Life in the city almost stopped after the closure of the only military plant , and many laid-off employees decide to commit suicide (which is actively supported by the local police , since the cost of delivering suicide corpses is twice the monetary reward for saving their lives).

To restore confidence in the president and divert public attention from internal problems, the American administration does not find anything better than trying to revive the military-political confrontation of the times of the bipolar world . Russian President Vladimir Krushkin (“Your Partnership, ” as one of the American president’s assistants calls him), accompanied by a Russian general , is called to Washington , and the US president invites his post-Soviet counterpart to return to the “good old Cold War.” However, in his visit, the head of the “hostile state” has a completely different goal - to eat the notorious “ Bush legs ” for free.

Left with a nose, the overseas imperialists are considering all possible candidates for the role of the US enemy - from Kazakhstan , at that time the third largest nuclear state in the world (the president rejects this option because “normal Americans will not find it on the map”), to terrorists (this the alternative has also been discarded, as “to be afraid of morons exploding cars is nonsense”). Finally, National Security Advisor Stuart Smiley ( Kevin Pollack ) tells the president that the worst threat to US sovereignty and identity was sheltered right under the nose of unsuspecting Americans.

The adviser's words that there is “free medicine , free higher education and free glasses ”, as well as other attributes of a “ communist economy” in neighboring Canada , terrify the president, and he, supported by General Dick Panzer ( Rip Thorne ), immediately announces the Cold War to the “Canadian Communists” (“... everyone hates Canada, like their maple syrup ”). The ruling circles of America are resorting to the manipulation of the media in order to permanently attach to the friendly neighboring state the label of a threat to the American lifestyle. The entire broadcast of American television channels is literally clogged with commercials in which fundamental truths such as “the socialist government of Canada concentrated 90% of its population near our borders” are popularly explained to the general public. Anti-Canadian hysteria flares up in America, volunteer groups are formed to defend the country in the event of a Canadian invasion, and “Americans of Canadian descent” are persecuted.

However, a group of patriotic , respectable U.S. citizens, residents of the already mentioned border town, headed by Sheriff Bad B. Boomer ( John Candy , ironically being Canadian himself), goes even further and decides to make a sortie to Canadian territory (to litter there). One of the sheriff’s companions is captured by the Canadian Mounted Police. Upon learning that she was taken to Ottawa , Canada, the sheriff and American patriots in solidarity with him decide that Canadians are simply deceiving them, because "even the children know that the capital of Canada is Toronto, " and go in search of a missing girlfriend ...

A similar storyline is used in his 1993 novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. Later, this book will form the basis of Barry Levinson’s famous film, “ Rogue ” ( Wag the Dog , 1997 ). The picture of Moore, which does not fit into the mainstream American cinema process, receives bad reviews in the press and deafeningly fails at the box office.

• Canadian Bacon is the only non-documentary film by Michael Moore.
• In addition, “Canadian Bacon” is John Candy’s last film, which he managed to finish working on, although the film was released in 1995, after the actor’s death (John Candy died in 1994 during the filming of “Wagons East”).
• The film makes fun of many stereotypes common to the United States regarding Canada: for example, Canadian border guards argue about the use of different English word forms instead of stopping the invading American police; a Canadian policeman explains to Boomer that all graffiti in Quebec should be made in two languages ​​- French and English, etc.
• Director Moore shot himself in a cameo, in which he portrayed one of the American rednecks, eager to fight with Canada.
• The walls of the corridor in the CIA building in the film are hung with a gallery of "trophies", including portraits of Patrice Lumumba , Mohammed Mossaddeck and Salvador Allende .
• The situation in the American president’s office in the film reminds Stanley Kubrick’s black comedy “ Doctor Strangelove, or How I Stoped Being Afraid and Loved the Bomb ”.
• It is noteworthy that the American president in the film refuses to use terrorists (“guys driving explosive cars”) to escalate the atmosphere of fear, considering such an undertaking even more frivolous than even the war with Canada. The film was released six years before George Bush Jr. declared the "war on terror."
• At the end of the film, a photograph flickers, which depicts Oliver North as the newly elected president of the United States.

• " Canadian Bacon ” on the Internet Movie Database
• Canadian Bacon on Box Office Mojo
• Canadian Bacon on Rotten Tomatoes