Gerald Budner

An unconventional version of The Christmas Carol.

Canadians in search of the national identity will not find it fully fleshed in this film. An animated cartoon, it sees Canadians as pragmatists, adaptable to whatever climate or history place in their way. It is a boisterous, bubbling analysis of the Canadian character and, although it may not answer the question of the title, it does leave the feeling that being Canadian is not so exhausting as one might expect.

This tongue-in-cheek cautionary tale by Croatian director Zlatko Grgic traces man's checkered history with fire, and shows how growing carelessness in the form of overloaded sockets, smoldering cigarettes and other fire hazards can have highly undesirable consequences.