Staying Fit
In 2017, the musical Come From Away swept Broadway audiences up on a sea of Canadian warmth and good humor. An unexpected and immediate hit, it's the story of how the citizens of Gander, Newfoundland, came together to help 7,000 airline passengers who were stranded in the town on September 11, 2001, when 38 planes were diverted and landed there. The Tony Award–winning production is still running — performances resume Sept. 21 — but if you can't make it to New York, you're in luck: A filmed version will be released on Apple TV+ on Sept. 10, so you can stream the feel-good musical from your own home. Inspired by Come From Away? Here are 11 more movies and TV shows from north of the border that offer a window into Canadian art, culture, history and society.
Kim's Convenience (2016-21)
The Setting: Toronto
The Plot: Based on a play by Ins Choi, this sweet series follows a Korean-Canadian family that runs a convenience store in Toronto's Moss Park neighborhood. The setup and intergenerational squabbles feel as comfortingly retro as a ‘70s sitcom, but New York Times writer Priya Krishna has also praised the show for the revolutionary way it normalizes Korean culture and cuisine. Marvel fans may recognize Simu Liu, who plays son Jung Kim in the show, from his starring role in this year's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
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The Most Canadian Part: Toronto is often cited as the world's most multicultural city (51.5 percent of residents self-identified as ethnic minorities in the 2016 census), and this show introduces audiences to one of those immigrant communities.
Watch It: Kim's Convenience, on Netflix
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
The Setting: Igloolik, Nunavut
The Plot: Inspired by an Inuit legend passed down through oral tradition, this nearly three-hour epic is the first film to be shot in Inuktitut, one of Canada's Inuit languages. The movie is about love, betrayal and vengeance in a tight-knit community a thousand years ago. But beyond the juicy plot points, it offers an opportunity to see the ingenious ways these people forage, fish, hunt, make clothing, live in igloos and use sled dogs in the remote and hostile Arctic wilderness. At the Cannes Film Festival, the film received the Caméra d'Or for best first feature film.
The Most Canadian Part: In 2015, critics and filmmakers at the Toronto International Film Festival named Atanarjuat the best Canadian movie of all time.
Watch It: The Fast Runner, on Apple TV ($3.99)
Indian Horse (2017)
The Setting: White River and Toronto, Ontario
The Plot: Canadian cinema is unsurprisingly filled with hockey movies (Goon, The Rocket, Les Boys), but few have as much to say about bigger ideas than this 2017 drama, which shed a light on the shocking abuses of the Indian residential school system. Run by Canada's Department of Indian Affairs, it was used to forcefully assimilate Indigenous children at mandatory, church-run boarding schools, and the last one didn't shut down until 1997. Based on a 2012 novel by Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese, the film tells the story of Saul Indian Horse, who survives the residential school system and later becomes a professional hockey player.
The Most Canadian Part: The book and movie are being taught in many Canadian schools as part of the nation's reckoning with this painful history.
Watch It: Indian Horse, on Netflix
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