[CANOPY screens Sunday November 9th at 6:30 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Matt Finley
Writer-Director Aaron Wilson's first feature CANOPY is a different sort of World War
II film. Or, at least, a different sort of WWII film for most modern American
audiences who (myself included) tend to immediately imagine tanks and convoys
flattening the Western front as the drone of Luftwaffe aircraft and the
screaming V-2 rockets drown out the wet crunch of Nazi teeth meeting allied
fists.
A joint production between Australia and Singapore, CANOPY is set during the 1942 Battle of
Singapore, during which Japanese troops invaded the South-East island, which housed
a major British military outpost. Shot against the relentless green of endless
jungle and nearly dialogue free, the film follows downed Australian airman Jim
(Khan Chittenden) as he mounts a desperate trek to safety amidst the invading army's
blanketing swarm.
