Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion (2003)

So much average

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

While this movie, and The Perfect Storm, and many others about war, ships and whatever else may be BASED on true stories and events...they are NOT true stories.As there was NOT always somebody in every location at every second to document the event and the speeches and actions that people did, much of this story is fiction.I found the movie interesting, that's for sure.I found it a good insight to the event with a basic understanding to the incident...but it is still partially fiction.What did impress me very much was that a film of this magnitude, a huge cast, a huge set, special effects and locations can be filmed for only 10 million dollars while a movie which takes place in very few locations with very few actors, few effects, few sets and much less than this film had will be shot for three or 4 times the budget.Whoever worked the finances on this movie should be in public office to deal with the finances the Canadian and Provincial Governments budget problems.They obviously know how to control the spending of money to the extreme.Make-up, set design, acting and everything else was great too.I am just overly impress with the people behind the cash flow...they really know how to spend the money, so that every cent is made to work.

I have to thank CBC, actually, for making this movie. Before a visit to Halifax on the QE2, I had never heard of the Explosion (typical American - although, in fact, I'm Canadian-born). But even seeing the great memorial didn't really register the extent of the disaster until I saw the movie. Yes, characters were combined or fictionalized in some cases, but that is absolutely secondary to the portrayal of that horrific episode in Canadian history. The effects of the blast were particularly well done. I hope it plays again, as indeed it should every couple of years or so, to remind us all of both the losses and the bravery incurred that day.

I really liked Vincent Walsh as the lead. He was very convincing in both the family-oriented scenes and the action stuff. The impending tragedy and the mundane actions that led to it were well-played and very gripping. It was nice to see a number of veteran Canadian actors like Lynne Griffin and Graham Green in large and small roles. I also thought the subplot about German saboteurs was both nicely diverting and added to the suspense. While Canadian productions can never hope to compete with Hollywood for budget and special effects, they can provide a Canadian "feel" to a project and "Shattered City" does that very well.

Shattered City is a highly enjoyable retelling of an almost forgotten event in Canadian history. I am from Halifax, and for me, the sight of the ships exploding in the harbour was a visceral experience. The blast, which occurred in December, 1917, was the largest man-made explosion before Hiroshima, killed 2000 people instantly and vaporized two square miles of the city of Halifax.I could have done without some of the more soap opera-like elements of it, but in all, I was engaged by the characters and moved by their horrendous plight. Although plagued by a low budget($10 million), the show did an excellent job of recreating wartime Halifax and the harbour, and the people felt authentic as they went about their daily lives.This film is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good story of human courage and drama, and is a must-see for any fan of Canadian history.Postscript: I now live in northern Canada, and watched the show with a group of westerners and northerners. None of them had heard of the Halifax Explosion. What a sad commentary on our woefully provincial education systems and on our ability to tell our own stories.