"The Wars", the film version. By: David Cho and Ari Neville

In the year 1983, the great Canadian novel “The Wars”, written by Timothy Findley, was released to the public in the form of a movie. Brent Carver was cast as Robert Ross, William Hutt as Mr. Ross, Martha Henry as Mrs. Ross, Ann-Marie MacDonald as Rowena Ross, Richard McMillian as Harris, Domini Blythe as Barbara D’Orsey, and Abigail Seaton as Juliet D’Orsey. It was Timothy Findley who adapted his novel for the screen, and the characters of the film were put to life by director Robin Phillips. With a budget of 4 100 000 and a runtime of 120 minutes, this movie was initially reviewed as a high quality piece of cinema. In fact, The New York Times, one of the more well-known newspapers, gave this Canadian film a rating of four point five out of five. Sadly though, the movie version of “The Wars” differs in numerous ways to the novel. In the book, Rowena Ross, the beloved and disabled sister of the main character Robert Ross, dies tragically when she falls from her wheel chair while playing with her ten rabbits on the cement floor of her family’s barn. On the other hand, in the movie adaptation, Rowena Ross dies in a car accident. After his sister’s death in the book version of this story, the loss of his greatest companion causes Robert to enlist in the army and fight over seas in WWI. Whilst in the movie version, Robert enlists in the arm due to frequent fights with his family over the death of his sister, and their decision to slaughter Rowena’s ten rabbits. Thankfully though, in all other aspects of “The Wars” plot, the movie didn’t change too much else. But this lack of numerous changes didn’t change the fact that later in time, “The Wars” movie would be viewed in poor taste. Viewers from a younger generation than those of the 80’s, who originally viewed the film, saw the many flaws apparent in this film. Even though the film had a budget of 4 100 000 Canadian dollars, everything about it seemed cheap and poorly done except for the acting. I truly wish this movie could have done this great Canadian novel even an ounce of justice, but it simply fell short.