Twenty years ago, a small Canadian film calledFUBARwas released. This mockumentary is filled with plenty of hilarity, absurdity, and heart. Amidst all the funny moments is a simple story about two friends dealing with the joys, struggles, and hardships of life, as well as how they cope with their issues in their own way.
FUBARis a short feature that several spectators may find too silly or messy to take seriously, but the key characters are appealing and entertaining to watch due to their larger-than-life personas. This film from Canadian director Michael Dowse also resembles the style of a heavy metal or hard rock music video, especially due to the soundtrack.
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FUBAR Tells A Comical And Emotional Story
FUBARis about a couple of lifelong companions, Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence) and Terry Cahill (Dave Lawrence), who grew up together in Calgary, Alberta, and are musicians who formed their own garage rock band. Dean and Terry have another friend named Troy (also called Tron), who decides not to perform and rejoin his old bandmates due to commitments to the woman he loves and his current career. Tron’s absence cause Dean and Terry to act wild and erratic bydrinking beer, shouting profanities, and engaging in crude humor.
The heart of the story revolves around Dean’s struggle with testicular cancer, and how he initially tries to ignore it but is then persuaded by Terry and his loved ones to visit the doctor and receive treatment. Another person who becomes close to Dean and Terry is documentarian Farrell Mitchner (Gordon Skilling), who films these guys and their relatives throughout the feature. It’s not entirely clear why Farrell chose to film and document the lives of these two Canadian friends in Alberta, but Dean and Terry slowly but surely grow on Farrell as they share their perspectives on camera.
FUBAR Has The Look And Feel Of A Documentary
The funniest and most intriguing part ofFUBARis that the film looks and feels like a documentary, but the entire story and allthe primary characters are fictional. There are actual people in Alberta (including Dean’s doctor and a couple of guys fist-fighting each other outside a bar) who are briefly filmed and/or interviewed, believing that they are part of an actual documentary. Some of these individuals also befriend the protagonists and wish Dean well in his cancer recovery.
This feature has the look of a documentary due to the basically amateurish but effective filming style.FUBARwasshot entirely with digital cinematographyon a Canon XL1 camera, which makes the feature appear like a scrappy low-budget home video (the film is indeed low-budget, beginning with a $10,000 shoot and ending with a $350,000 budget when actor/writer/producer Dave Lawrence maxed out his own credit card to complete filming).
FUBAR Relies Heavily On Improvisation And Crude Humor
As with many documentary-style films, this one did not have a script andrelied heavily on improvisation. Dean and Terry are seen constantly hanging out together and dancing hard to rock music (which is why they’re considered head-bangers who shake their heads erratically to rhythmic rock and heavy metal tracks). While watching two guys rocking to music may not be the most appealing thing in the world, Dean and Terry are shown doing this as a form of release and escapism. They unleash their frustrations with rock music when their friend Tron is not with them to perform, and Dean relies on music to comfort himself during his cancer diagnosis.
The improvisation is also accompanied by several f-bombs and profane language, along withcrude and rude humor(including farts). Dean is especially foul-mouthed over his issues with cancer and references how physically challenging he will feel without the intimacy of a woman. Dean and Terry also treat each other like two small children who don’t have jobs and live in a messy house with unfinished beds. All they care about is hanging out with family and friends, drinking and chugging down beer from the side of a can (shotgunning), and partying to classic rock.
One of the film’s best moments is when Dean, Terry, and documentarian Farrell go camping and stay at a hotel so that Dean can have some fun before having surgery to treat his testicular cancer. During that trip, all three men get heavily drunk one evening, forcing Farrell to get brutally honest with the rockers about his true feelings as a filmmaker. Farrell says that he could’ve filmed a documentary about anybody similar to Terry and Dean, but this meltdown from Farrell shows that he has actually grown to care about these guys, especially Dean’s cancer struggles.
However, the film takes a huge left turn when Farrell unexpectedly dies after jumping into a lake. Many would have figured Dean to be the one to die by the end of this film since he has cancer, but Farrell’s death sentimentally impacts Terry and Dean because they were becoming friends with the documentarian, and they realize how precious and fragile life can be.FUBARis a mockumentary that hasan electric soundtrack, along with characters who are comically absurd due to their erratic behavior but touching because of the problems they go through in life. There is a weird but effective mix of comedy and drama, and Dean’s catchphrase, “just give’r,” represents Dean’s persistence to keep living his fun, wild life, and to not let cancer bring him down.
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