Group dynamics in the Canadian film "The Company of Strangers"

Group Dynamics: Analysis of the Canadian Video "The Company of Strangers"

Film the Company of Strangers

Group Dynamics Analysis

Canadian Video: "The Company of Strangers"

The objective of this work is to first (1) Watch the video by the national film board of Canada entitled: "The Company of Strangers," then to (2) Analyze the group dynamics in this film.

The film "The Company of Strangers" (1990) starred Alice Diabo, Beth Webber, Catherine Roche, Cissy Meddings, Constance Garneau, Mary Meigs, Michelle Sweeney, Winifred Holden. In this film the first event is that of the breakdown of a busload of women who are elderly. These women become stranded for two days in a region that is both remote and dangerous inclusive of life-threatening situations which must be overcome if they are not to die. McGreal (1991) states that:

"Trapped as they are in the middle of a beautiful but alien wilderness, full of strange noises and impervious to penetration, these women are literal emblems for that oh-so-Canadian syndrome that Northrop Frye called the garrison mentality."

The Plot

The women, upon the bus having broken down have to find their way out of the forest, which is incidentally foggy making it a difficult time for them. Constance, an 88-year-old woman in the film starts searching in the area for an old cottage where she visited often when a young child. The cottage is located at the edge of a lake and it is eventually found by the women who take shelter in it.

The Setting

The setting of this film is in Canada in the Laurentians North of Montreal.

Summary

Alice is strong where Constance is weak and the same can be said of the strength of the Mohawk when compared to Beth Webber as the Mohawk woman is more capable of survival than her counterpart. The candid dialogue that takes place between the women in this film is such that this type of dialogue is rarely witnessed in reality. The women upon having found the abandoned cottage immediately form a 'group' that is tight and operates in a coordinated manner giving structure to their relations.

The scenes in the film provide opportunities for the central issues in the lives of these very different women to be explored. It is through the use of simple conversations that the lives of the women in this film are explored in a candid manner revealing these women to each other, themselves and the viewer revealing all the underlying layers of joy and pain in their lives.