Dawson's Creek to Dawson City (almost)

What would you do if you found out you had one day, one week, one month left to live? That’s the question asked in the sort of new super-Canadiana film, One Week.

The question is posed to Ben Tyler, played by Vancouver-born Joshua Jackson, still shining in my eyes from his days as Pacey Witter on Dawson’s Creek. He finds out he has advanced cancer and his survival chances are depressingly slim. His response: buy a motorcycle off his dodgy looking neighbour and ride into the wind all the way to Tofino.

What accompanies his journey westward from Toronto is amazing footage of some of the most and least witnessed gems of the Canadian landscapes. To make it that much more varied – as if going from Toronto concrete to Saskatchewan fields to Tofino’s Long Beach isn’t enough – Ben stops at as many of Canada’s “biggest” tourist attractions he can find.

This means a stop at Sudbury’s giant nickel, a massive paper clip in Kipling, Sask. (why a paper clip?) and a snapshot in the world’s biggest Muskoka chair outside a Home Hardware in Gravenhurst, Ont. If these aren’t sources for national pride, I don’t know what is.

The plot is pretty good too. Ben’s new focus on his limited time causes him to reevaluate all aspects of his life, from his appreciation for family to the uncertainty that weighs on him about his upcoming marriage. Plus there’s a cameo by Gord Downie, which is weird but kind of cool.

The film generously shares with us some of the country’s most amazing views that most people will only see on a postcard or in the “Canada” section of coffee table books at Chapters. From the seemingly endless prairies to the iconic Banff Springs Hotel and finally to the surfer’s haven of Tofino, One Week comes beautifully close to giving this country’s geography its cinematic justice.