Review: History takes an abstract turn in Canadian 'The Twentieth Century'

If you took Canadian history and ran it through the visual palette of German Expressionism and the drag sensibilities of The Kids in the Hall, you would get something like Matthew Rankin’s confounding but compelling biographical drama “The Twentieth Century.”

Rankin creates a portrait of the young William Lyon McKenzie King, the 10th prime minister of Canada, and it’s quite an odd portrait. As portrayed by Dan Beirne, McKenzie King doesn’t strike as leadership material, even in the snobbish private school circles in which he lives. He is ambitious and frequently complaining, which seems contrary to the Canadian ethos espoused here: “Do more than is your duty, expect less than is your right.”

McKenzie King is convinced that he is destined to be prime minister, and it’s clear that his bedridden mother (played by Louis Negin, in drag) has spent her life convincing him of this. To further that end, Mother insists that McKenzie King marry Ruby Eliott (Catherine St-Laurent), the beautiful daughter of the governor general, Lord Muto (Sean Cullen), who is busy whipping up a mob frenzy in support of the war against the Boers. Unfortunately for McKenzie King, Ruby is already betrothed to his more attractive classmate, Bert Harper (Mikhail Ahooja). 

McKenzie King aims to show himself worthy of Ruby, and to secure an endorsement from Lord Muto to become prime minister. To do so, he must overcome his sinful urges — namely, a fetish for the smell of leather boots.

The look of Rankin’s scenes resembles such German Expressionist silent films as “Nosferatu” and “Metropolis,” with jagged angles of light thrusting themselves onto the screen at odd angles. There’s also an otherworldly quality, like the darkest and most depressing entrance to hell, that echoes Rankin’s fellow Canadian, filmmaker Guy Madden.

The performances are stilted, as they must be, to make such strangeness work effectively. Beirne is especially strange, conveying a weird mix of Mark Zuckerberg and Alfalfa from “The Little Rascals.” He propels “The Twentieth Century” through the soundstage fakery and frequent drag performances that keep us viewers off kilter. 

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‘The Twentieth Century’

★★★

Available for streaming starting Friday, November 20, on the SLFS@Home virtual cinema. Not rated, but probably R for language, sexual content and stylized violence.