Pity poor Mr. Toronto. He has a thankless task. The burden he carries on the broad shoulders of his corporate blue suit is trying to get Canadians to see Toronto for the world-class city it really is.[/p] Not the "suffocating, sanctimonious icebox" that some of those in the film "Let's All Hate Toronto" suggest.[/p] The film, by mischief-making documentarian Albert Nerenberg, is screening at the Just for Laughs comedy festival and has already gotten lots of attention, including headlines south of the border.[/p] But for Mr. Toronto - also known as Robert Spence - slagging Toronto is no laughing matter.[/p] "When I first found out that Canadians hate Toronto in many cases - I know this is going to be hard for you to believe - I cried.[/p] "I'm an incredibly macho guy. You wouldn't think that I ever cry and I think I hardly ever had. Except for when my dog died."[/p] The tongue-firmly-in-cheek film recounts all the reasons why people think Toronto the Good is bad - no soul, uptight, not taking the rest of the country seriously. Getting the army to clear its snow.[/p] But in his 15-city Toronto Appreciation Day tour that makes up the framework of the film, Spence carries the message that Hogtown is a place with people, not some two-dimensional bank that runs Canada.[/p] As feisty as that other Mr. T, Spence even tries to make other Canadians reach Toronto-like standards.[/p] When he arrives in Montreal in the film and sees some bulbs burned out in the illuminated cross that dominates Mount Royal, Spence exhorts a crowd to "stop drinking wine. Get up in the morning and change the lightbulbs."[/p] Interestingly, the movie segment ends with footage of the bulbs having been changed.[/p]<snip>
"The West only started hating Toronto in the way it does now in the last 20-30 years," Nerenberg said. "This is a trend that Toronto isn't really aware of. It's news to them." [/p] Top honours go to Vancouver, Nerenberg said. "Vancouver is much more resentful." [/p] Another snort from Mr. Toronto. [/p]"I think here's what happens, is you have somebody who can't cut it in Toronto. They like to lay around and smoke pot all day and maybe do the occasional kayak. So they move out to the 'mountainlands' where they can basically escape the responsibilities that we carry in Toronto to make the country work." [/p]But there is a bright spot to all the resentment. In a country threatened by political divisions and western alienation for years, hating Toronto is a great unifier. [/p]"French, English, we can all hate Toronto," Nerenberg said brightly. "What we discovered is that you could go to the most remote Inuit village in the Far North of Canada and you will find people who hate Toronto. [/p]"You can go as far west as you want to go, you'll find Toronto haters. You can go as far east. Rich, poor, short, tall, with mustaches, without mustaches, it doesn't seem to matter. All these people can be unified by hating Toronto." [/p]Since the film had its packed premiere - in Toronto - last spring, some Torontonians have asked Nerenberg if reconciliation with the rest of the country is possible now that dialogue on the burning issue has begun. [/p] "A lot of these issues are quite resolvable," he says optimistically. "Maybe show a few less Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games."
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[/p]Full Story:
[a href="vny!://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20070715/ca_pr_on_en/film_hate_toronto"]vny!://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20070715/ca_pr_on_en/film_hate_toronto[/a]
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]LOL. "Hating Toronto the great unifier."
I'd love see this movie. Sounds hysterical.
