Captain Newfoundland
(Canada, 95 min.)
Dir. Mike Feehan, Jamie Miller
Prod. Jamie Miller, Sam Sutherland, Justin Taylor
Take a gander at a wacky Newfoundlander in this breezy documentary about a singular Canadian. Captain Newfoundland revisits the eccentric life of broadcast pioneer Geoff Stirling, a man who might have bristled at being dubbed a great Canadian. Stirling oozes patriotism, yet his allegiance resides not with the maple leaf, but with the rocky shores of Newfoundland. But whether he likes it or not, this appropriately offbeat film shares how Stirling united Canadians through the airwaves.
Captain Newfoundland tells how Stirling put Newfoundland on the map in its own right after it joined Canada much to his disapproval. Stirling, who passed in 2013 at the age of 92, was infamously against Newfoundland joining the Canadian Confederation in 1949. Interviewees in this talking heads(ish) doc situate the strange characterization of the historic milestone that Stirling perpetuated: Come hell or high water, the Brits were dumping Newfoundland on Canada after World War II as a means to settle debts. He thinks the vote was all smoke and mirrors.
That dynamic positions Newfoundlanders like the accidental offspring in a family that welcomed its first child decades before. But Captain Newfoundland adds an especially novel perspective to the Canadian ethos arriving on the heels of Alberta’s own referendum on secession. The film captures how a nation as vast as Canada contains such distinctly rich cultures across its provinces and territories.
Moreover, Captain Newfoundland credits Stirling’s rabble-rousing entrepreneurial spirit for uniting Canadians. The documentary recaps the formation of his media empire with the Newfoundland Herald and running a tabloid with local flavour. Interviewees explain how the magnate grew like the Charles Foster Kane of the East Coast, including co-founding Newfoundland Television (NTV) in 1955. There are plum soundbites and archival snippets as Captain Newfoundland shows audiences what happens when a man with a big platform and an even bigger mouth controls the airwaves. A few quick clips of his nattering political digressions illustrate how Stirling’s freewheeling ways actually served community impulses of regional television.
His creation of NTV remains a hallmark of you gotta see it to believe it television. The documentary revisits the reefer madness of the station’s late night programming, which served visualizations of Stirling’s Zen philosophy. However, interviewees credit Stirling’s nocturnal ramblings for changing the game for broadcasting overall, as he realised that Newfoundland’s early time zone meant that NTV went off the air hours before folks in Vancouver were ready for primetime. Keeping up helped NTV ultimately set the pace for TV everywhere.
Interviewees illuminate his expansion of NTV’s reach with 24-hour programming in an era when broadcasters signed off for the night. As more Canadians tuned in to his strange Ram Dass-y diatribes, NTV cast a peculiar spell. It’s the only station where the big cheese could interrupt the evening news with instructions to play Inspector Gadget as anchors reported their stories. And not as an in-picture feature, but as an overlay with which the news had to compete.
His most memorable creation, however, may be the superhero that gives this doc its name. Captain Newfoundland imparts the enduring appeal of the masked superhero and his connection to the lost city of Atlantis. Many of the interviewees share their love for comics and credit Captain Newfoundland for creating space for a comic scene to thrive on the East Coast. The Captain’s superpower may be his ability to instil a provincial pride in anyone who identifies with his Atlantis-shaped emblem.
Directors Mike Feehan and Jamie Miller embrace the strange, too. The interviews lean into the lore and urban legends that surround Stirling’s character. The film understands how Stirling was more likely to print the legend. This history playfully intertwines fact and myth as Stirling’s legendary quirks echo throughout contemporary life in Newfoundland. The film also follows Stirling’s rambling ways as the interviews search for higher meaning. Participants reflect upon the place of Newfoundlanders in Canada’s national psyche and debate characterizations of Newfies as simple, quaint bumpkins. But the film does little to demythologize their eccentricity. Instead, it follows Stirling’s knack for keeping things weird. Captain Newfoundland reflects unabashed pride in embracing the strange.
Captain Newfoundland screens at the Windsor International Film Festival and CUFF Docs.
Please check your local listings for additional festivals, event screenings, or broadcast runs.
