John N. Smith Movies

This docudrama explores the life and legacy of one of Canada's most important reformers: Tommy Douglas (Michael Therriault). A shrewd politician and a colorful personality, Douglas was a social crusader who helped bring universal healthcare to his country. Beginning in 1930 and ending in 1961, this two-part CBC miniseries follows Douglas's remarkable odyssey. When it first aired in 2006, it was greeted controversy due to the artistic license taken in the depiction of Saskatchewan premier Jimmy Gardiner. ~ Robert Silva, Rovi

A young Irish servant girl travels to Newfoundland in an attempt to build a new life for herself and her infant daughter in director John. M. Smith's Gemini Award-winning miniseries. Mary Keane (Aoife McMahon) is a humble servant who has been raped and abused her entire life, but she's determined that her young daughter will not suffer the same grim fate. Now, after departing from their native Ireland, Mary and her daughter wind up at an isolated fishing station run by benevolent soul Thomas Hutchings (Colm Meany). But sickness and starvation run rampant in this harsh environment. Perhaps if all of the fugitives and lost souls who have wound up in this unforgiving no man's land can band together and make it through the hard times, there will finally be hope for the future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this drama, a school teacher discovers that it takes more than the ABCs to get through to a class of "uneducatable" kids. When Lou Anne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer), a nine-year veteran of the Marine Corps with a degree in education, begins a new job at an inner-city school in California, the principal (George Dzundza) warns her that her class will be the "rejects from Hell" -- kids with severe social problems and no interest in education. While at first her African-American and Latino students scoff at Lou Anne, she ultimately gets them to open up to learning and literature, through a combination of bribery (candy bars) and intimidation (her karate training from the Marines comes in handy), and she's able to reach out to the students who need her the most: Callie (Bruklin Harris), a bright girl who believes she's thrown away her future when she becomes pregnant; Emilio (Wade Dominquez), a macho bully whose violence is stifling his academic potential; and Raul (Renoly Santiago), the brightest kid in the class, who is afraid to show his intelligence. Dangerous Minds was adapted from a memoir by Lou Anne Johnson entitled My Posse Don't Do Homework. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The great achievement of The Boys of St. Vincent is not that it deals with the controversial subject of pedophilia among Catholic clergy, but that it deals with that subject so honestly, without resorting to melodramatics. At the core of this powerful film lies Henry Czerny's searing performance as Brother Peter Lavin. Czerny deftly shows in the film's first half how Lavin used the double-edged sword of adult and religious authority to intimidate his charges. And in the second half, when Lavin is confronted with the monstrousness of his crimes, Czerny's ability to construct a plausible set of denials (if you had seen only this part of the film, you might be tempted to believe him) lifts the film above a simple case study. Lavin's character, a man who translated his own troubled childhood into pain and affliction for others, is one of the most fascinating psychological studies in contemporary film. Co-writer and director John N. Smith is also to be praised for tamping down the urge to embroider this story with unnecessary flourishes. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Tony Abruzzi (Jason St. Amour) is a 17-year-old punk from Montreal headed for trouble in this documentary-styled drama. Running with gangs, Tony ditches school and takes to petty theft to buy alcohol and soft drugs, and his concerned mother (Marcella Santa Maria) calls the police after her wayward son beats her up. Tony is sentenced to two years at the Ontario correctional institute for youthful offenders, but he refuses to get with the program. A music teacher (Fred Ward) gets through to Tony with the Billie Holiday rendition of Don't Worry 'Bout Me. Tony begins to open himself up to the possibilities of making positive choices in his life and dreams of a better future. He eventually is allowed to go home on weekends to help his mother and 10-year-old brother Nicky (Christopher Neil),who is seemingly headed for the same dead end as Tony. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

For those seeking a break from all those feminist documentaries in which women sit around discussing the iniquities of a male-dominated world, we submit for your approval the Canadian The Masculine Mystique. Veteran Scottish-born filmmaker Giles Walker, in concert with relative newcomer Jimmy Neils Smith, throw political correctness to the wind by offering us the Men's angle. Four certified males, drawn from various walks of life, are asked their opinions on the feminist movement. Some of the commentary is expectedly scatological and demeaning. Occasionally, however, a whiff of incisiveness and senstivity emerges. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi