In Bed with an Elephant
1986 · 59m · Canada
Directed by Kent Martin
Genres: documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative
Archival footage traces Canada-United States relations through successive prime ministers and presidents, from John A. Macdonald to the camaraderie of Reagan and Mulroney and the antipathy of Kennedy and Diefenbaker.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A 59-minute archival essay on bilateral handshakes is exactly the kind of polite, consensus-friendly documentary that puts me to sleep—it's too respectful of its own subject matter, too eager to let the historical record speak for itself without any real formal provocation.
Martin's assembly of successive administrations into a visual argument about power and proximity is remarkably disciplined; the film understands that editing *is* historiography, and the juxtaposition of archival material becomes its own rigorous form of political analysis.
The real move here is the restraint—letting grainy archival footage and the spaces *between* administrations do the arguing rather than overscoring or narration; that choice to trust the archive's own rhythm transforms what could be a civics textbook into something genuinely contemplative.