May. 10, 2006 - Issue #551: The City Streets
Death by Popcorn hits uncomfortably close to home for Oilers fan
In 1979, it was the Winnipeg Jets who walked home with their third Avco Cup as champions of the short-lived World Hockey Association, over the Edmonton Oilers, incidentally. In 1990, it was the Oilers who raised their fifth Stanley Cup to cap off their dynasty, rolling over Winnipeg in the first round thanks, in part, to an errant box of popcorn.
L’Atelier National du Manitoba, the art collective behind the uniquely hilarious documentary Death by Popcorn: the Tragedy of the Winnipeg Jets, never makes the connection between Edmonton and Winnipeg directly, but as the city honks itself to sleep after every Oilers’ win this spring, you can’t help but feel an inestimable connection with the discount furniture salesmen and cheesy sportscasters that make Winnipeg so tragically beautiful. That sense of utter despair, the hopelessly lost optimism that can only come from a city that ties the entirety of its civic pride to a sports franchise—especially one that’s mediocre at best, as Winnipeg was and Edmonton is—is captured perfectly by the trio of Winnipeg filmmakers. Through scavenged TV-station tapes, with a few original bits interspersed—including an absurdly brilliant interview with the man who supposedly threw the fated box of popcorn—they manage to portray the slow death of the Jets, and maybe Winnipeg, with all the ridiculous drama and earnestness that comes with your average sports season.
Swelling operatics mourn while Randy Gilhen—a Jets centre most Winnipeggers would be hard-pressed to name—is introduced to thunderous applause. Hall of Famer Dale Hawercuk is hailed as another Wayne Gretzky (who, incidentally, the Jets just missed signing in the ‘70s). A dude in full Ukrainian get-up explains the wonders of his plastic perogy maker. Rod Black, renowned Winnipeg sportscaster, rides across the screen dressed as the Lone Ranger. Burton Cummings, in a last-ditch publicity effort to help save the team, practices with the Jets, but alas, can’t even tie his own skates and barely gets the jersey over his ample frame.
It would perhaps be more outrightly funny if it didn’t hit its mark so truly. There are no sly irony or knowing winks throughout—L’Atelier lovingly display the city in all its pathetic grandeur, from Fountain Tire commercials (you remember, “Goin’ to Winnipeg”) to the misplaced hope that anyone down the road will remember the Phoenix Coyotes used to live there.
And it’s made more heart-breaking when you realize that Edmonton was only one Minnesota investor away from the same fate. V
Thu, May 11 (8 pm)
Death by Popcorn: the Tragedy of the Winnipeg Jets
Written & directed by
L’Atelier National du Manitoba
Starring Dale Hawerchuk,
Burton Cummings, Teemu Selanne,
Wayne Gretzky, the city of Winnipeg
Metro Cinema, $8
New comments for this entry have been turned off and any existing ones are hidden. We apologize for any inconvenience.