Land of the Delegates

A fenced-off Toronto, conflict in the streets, brain dead decision making and the recent death of Dennis Hopper – how I could not have Land of the Dead on the Brain?

George A. Romero’s 2005, T.O.-shot  zombie film is a return to the flesh-eating zombie subgenre that he created. It takes place in a walled city, where the rich, led by Hopper’s character, Kaufman (apparently based on Donald Rumsfeld), live in a luxurious tower protected by the military. Eventually, through human error and zombie ingenuity, the dead overtake the city, literally eating the rich. Meanwhile, a rag-tag groups of heroes escape with the intent to go to Canada (the film was shot here but set in Romero’s home city, Pittsburgh).

Aside from Hopper’s impersonation, the satire on Bush’s America is more than obvious – the growing gap between rich and poor, a militarized state, corrupt government, etc. Many urban Toronto features are recognizable, and when I was downtown last weekend and saw those giant fences for the first time, the first thing that leapt to mind was Land of Dead. It looked like preparations for a zombie apocalypse down on Front Street.

Of course, nothing in Romero’s satirical movie matches the hyperbole of Toronto’s Theatre of Security. Red and yellow zones, bicycle posts removed with the bikes still on them, saplings uprooted for fear that they could be weaponized… Really, when was the last time you saw a protestor whittle a poking stick?

I wouldn’t believe this sort of stuff was taking place if it was in a movie, and it would be pretty hilarious if it wasn’t so embarrassing and unnecessary. There’s nothing to showcase here for the G20 delegates, other than concrete and chain-link fence, so why not hold it somewhere isolated and sublime, like a ski resort, where a regular old fence and some bear spray could take care of unwanted visitors. Why not on the edge of an actual lake, instead of a fake one built for the cost of $2 million. To put it in perspective, that was the cost of Romero’s 2008 zombie film Diary of the Dead.

As this Star article points out (prepare to be very, very angry after reading it), the G20 is costing Canadians about $1.1 billion dollars, with $930 million of it for security. I can barely get my head around that figure (though it does bring to mind another movie title: FUBAR…).

Romero has lived in Toronto for several years now, and he shot his last three zombie movies in the city and surround area. Given the man’s politics, a factor in that decision to move north may have been the desire to escape this kind of militaristic insanity. The legendary filmmaker resides in a high-rise condo somewhere downtown, and I wonder if he stands out on his balcony and surveys the whole thing with a laugh. I wonder what he thinks about Toronto’s downtown being turned into the world’s most expensive zombie movie set. I wonder if it’s inspiring another one of his Dead films.

I hope so, because that’s about the only good thing I can somehow, maybe, possibly see coming out of this who G20 fiasco.

-Dave Alexander