Today I am posting about my experience watching the movie The Hanging Garden.

Part 1 on New Waterford Girl is here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-part-1-introducing-new-waterford-glace-bay

Part 2 on My Bloody Valentine is here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p2-sydney-mines-is-an-international-sensation

Part 3 on Johnny Belinda is here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p3-johnny-belinda-and-small-town-mentality

Part 4 on The Bay Boy is here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p4-the-bay-boy-for-most-canadian-movie

Part 5 on Marion Bridge is here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p5-marion-bridge-and-the-pleasure-it-brings

Part 6 is on Going own the Road: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p6-goin-down-the-road-with-pete-and-joey

Part 7 is on Candy Mountain:https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p7-new-york-and-new-waterford-and-tom-waits

This list that follows is intended to cover all feature films related to Cape Breton. I have attempted to include movies that can tell a little of the story of Cape Breton and have purposefully left out movies that just used Cape Breton as a set for some other place (Squanto, Book of Negroes).

- New Waterford Girl (Part 1)
- My Bloody Valentine (Part 2)
- Johnny Belinda (Part 3)
-  The Bay Boy (Part 4)
- Marion Bridge (Part 5)
- Goin’ Down the Road (Part 6)

- Candy Mountain (Part 7)

- The Hanging Garden (Part 8)
- Margaret’s Museum (at the library)
-Down the Road Again (at library)
- Sealed Cargo (have it)
-The Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger (looking for it)
- Song Spinner (can’t find)
- The Third Walker (looking)
- Something About Love (1988) (looking)
- The Widow of St. Pierre (at library)

- The Wake of Calum MacLeod (Short Film in Gaelic on YouTube)

And on to the movie:

The Hanging Garden (1997) directed by Thom Fitzgerald

The Hanging Garden, like many other movies made in Cape Breton, is pretty obscure. I didn’t know about it until someone on Reddit asked why it wasn’t on my list. I dug it up a and decided to watch it. I was pleased to find yet another movie that managed to capture some subtleties of Cape Breton.

Sweet William (Chris Leavins) grew up as a troubled teen that struggled with obesity, self confidence and sexuality. He left home for a period of 10 years to the big city (this is a common trend in Cape Breton movies) where he found confidence and acceptance of his homosexuality. Meanwhile, things have got interesting at home during his absence. Returning during his sister’s wedding, he finds a family struggling with despair, his sister marrying his best friend and past love interest, and an illegitimate child from an encounter his mother arranged with a prostitute.  He is haunted with memories he would much rather forget.The movie deals with choices between life and death, and how experience drives a person to make pivotal decisions in life.

The film starts with a very comical wedding. His sister Rosemary (Kerry Fox) is an animated, hardened woman with little manners. It is very uncoordinated and awkward in many ways, and it is filled with Cape Breton humour. Ashley MacIsaac makes a cameo appearance as the musical entertainment at the wedding and Sweet William shows up quietly in a shroud of foreboding mystery.

William’s mother (Seana McKenna) and father (Peter MacNeil) have a prolonged strained relationship. William suffers abuse from his impatient alcoholic father and misunderstanding from his good intentioned mother.

The movie proceeds to show both the present day Sweet William struggling with his past and the teenage Sweet William committed suicide, hanging dead from a tree in the backyard. The cast interacts with both. The adult Sweet William witnesses the toll his absence has had on his father in particular, on his tight-lipped mother and Violet (Christine Dunsworth), a younger sister with tomboy tendencies that he’s never met. The dead teenage Sweet William remains hanging from the tree as the family anguishes over their loss and personal struggles.

The scenes from the past, family dynamics make the relationships and interactions between characters play out as complex and intriguing. This film deals with some very big life challenges that, I am sure, many can relate to.

The surrealism is portrayed in a way that feels low budget and a bit disjointed. I understand what was being put forward but the execution seemed a bit scattered, if not a little tongue and cheek. At one point the Virgin Mary statue smiles and winks at you.

Where was this movie shot? To me it seems to be in the Bras d’Or Lake area but it’s not very recognizable. If people know I would be interested to hear from you.

What did I find out about Cape Breton from watching this? Cape Breton grew up on conservative values. This is the second movie I’ve seen (first being New Waterford Girl) that plays on the importance of the Virgin Mary and staying together even if you are miserable because it is the right thing to do. People in Cape Breton seem to have a high proportion of flower names. 

My recommendation: You might find this interesting. There were parts of the movie that I found were humorous,touching, and emotional. But overall it was a little too disjointed to really keep my interest.

Chris Bellemore is a blogger from Ontario that moved to Cape Breton Island and is logging his experiences in this strange and wonderful place. The good, the bad and the ugly. "You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig. "

My life in a nutshell is here:
https://www.facebook.com/chris.bellemore 

My music that I work on myself because I can't find a band is here:
https://soundcloud.com/crispbellemono 