The Defender
1988 · 54m · Canada
Directed by Stephen Low
Genres: biography, documentary
Bob Diemert of Carman, Manitoba finances his dream of building a great fighter plane through his worldwide reputation for restoring vintage warbirds.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A 54-minute love letter to warbird restoration doesn't sound like subversion until you realize Low has made a film where the dream *is* the obsession and the obsession *is* the dream—no irony, no wink, just a guy in Manitoba who refused to think small.
Low's documentary sits comfortably in the heritage of industrial portraiture and the dignity-of-craft tradition, though the whimsy keeps it from the gravitas it might otherwise demand; a formally assured work that knows exactly what it is.
The entire film pivots on Low's decision to let Diemert's quiet, unshakeable optimism carry the narrative weight rather than impose drama—a single sustained tonal choice that transforms what could've been a profile into something genuinely moving about the cost of vision.