The Invasion (1775-1975)
1976 · 10m · Canada
Genres: documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative
In 1975, one thousand American history enthusiasts in period uniforms re-enact Benedict Arnold's 1775 march into Quebec for a Bicentennial special, revisiting an unfinished page of history.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone sees a Bicentennial nostalgia piece; I see a time-loop trap where a thousand people perform history that already failed once, and the film just... lets it happen, which is genuinely unsettling in a way the makers probably didn't intend.
A formally precise excavation of how documentary frames collective memory—the choice to hold steady on the re-enactment without irony or deconstruction is a sophisticated curatorial stance that positions the film within a lineage of observational cinema and historical critique.
The decision to let the re-enactors speak directly to the absurdity of their own enterprise, rather than voice-over or commentary, transforms what could've been archive footage into something alive and self-aware on a shoestring.