A small propeller plane flies over a vast wasteland of felled trees in the Canadian forest. In a scene which reminded me of the opening of The Wicher Man, it touches down on a lake in what is obviously a very isolated area. A man steps out of the plane, wades to the shoreline and the plane departs again. The man continues into the forest, despite wearing highly incongruous clothing for this endeavor: dress shoes, pressed slacks and buttoned-down shirt. He’s also carrying a briefcase.
This unusual and intriguing setup begins 1991’s Clearcut. This is the only Canadian feature in the folk horror blu-ray box set All the Haunts Be Ours from Severin. Not sure why, but I never thought there were ever any folk horror films from above the 49th parallel. Similarly, and embarrassingly, I also never think of there being Native Canadians, which at least the entire population of Nunavut may want to have a conversation with me about.
Our guy encounters a little girl in the forest who asks him for a light. She proceeds to light a cigarette for herself and he asks her if she knows who he is. “The man who talks for us,” she replies.
The two exit the forest and see a huge fight between Native Canadians and police. Right behind the police are bulldozers. A news crew is capturing the whole affair.
Turns out our protagonist is a lawyer for the tribe, returning from Toronto with bad news: he failed in court to block further clearcutting efforts to establish a new road. We’ll also meet the instigator of the project, and winner of that lawsuit: the pompous head of the local lumber mill.
Ron Lea plays our lawyer protagonist, and he starts seeing a mysterious figure around, who is played by Graham Greene. Lea participates in a sweat lodge ceremony, though I wasn’t entirely certain why he is invited or why he accepts. As the tribe’s chief (played by Floyd Red Crow Westerman) warns him, he should not be scared of what he finds within himself. The lawyer’s vision in the ceremony is the laughing visage of Greene.
I was surprised when Greene talks directly to Lea the next day. I thought he had been an imaginary figure up until this point. Greene taunts Lea, asking what exactly the lawyer can do for the tribe now that the case is lost. Like Strangers on a Train, Lea jokingly proposes they skin the owner of the mill alive. And like that movie and book, Greene takes this recommendation to heart.
Greene’s character is fascinating: a mischievous, malicious and possibly supernatural being. He is as funny and witty as often as he is terrifying, and occasionally in the same moments. The folk horror element that comes into play here is when Westerman mentions a trickster spirit known to him. I think it’s interesting how so many mythologies around the world have such a figure in them.
Greene ends up kidnapping the mill owner. It’s hard to say whether Lea is also kidnapped or if he is an accomplice. The remainder of the film explores complex and constantly shifting dynamics between the three men, though Greene always has the upper hand. In a way, this is like some weird, homicidal buddy road picture.
I would describe Clearcut as more drama than horror, though it gets quite gruesome towards the end and it doesn’t pull any punches with the gore. Overall, I would say I enjoyed it, though I would be hard-pressed to give concrete reasons why. At the very least, it was interesting to see folk horror from a place and culture I would not normally expect it from.
Dir: Ryszard Bugajski
Starring Ron Lea, Graham Greene, Michael Hogan
Watched as part of Severin’s All the Haunts Be Ours blu-ray box set