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John McCrae's War: In Flanders Fields

1998 46 min
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This feature documentary profiles poet John McCrae, from his childhood in Ontario to his years in medicine at McGill University and the WWI battlefields of Belgium, where he cared for wounded soldiers. Generations of schoolchildren have recited McCrae’s iconic poem “In Flanders Fields,” but McCrae and Alexis Helmer—the young man whose death inspired the poem—have faded from memory. This film seeks to revive their stories through a vivid portrait of a great man in Canadian history.

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John McCrae's War: In Flanders Fields

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This feature documentary profiles poet John McCrae, from his childhood in Ontario to his years in medicine at McGill University and the WWI battlefields of Belgium, where he cared for wounded soldiers. Generations of schoolchildren have recited McCrae’s iconic poem “In Flanders Fields,” but McCrae and Alexis Helmer—the young man whose death inspired the poem—have faded from memory. This film seeks to revive their stories through a vivid portrait of a great man in Canadian history.
  • director
    Robert Duncan
  • script
    Robert Duncan
  • producer
    Jonathan Desbarats
    Barbara Shearer
    Selwyn Jacob
  • executive producer
    Robert Duncan
    Graydon McCrea
  • camera
    Keith Taylor
    Peter Walker
    Bill Casey
    Fred MacDonald
  • sound
    Bob McKenzie
    Ao Loo
    François Proulx
  • editing
    Janice Brown
  • sound editing
    Marc Benoit
  • voice
    Paul Nash
    Rae Hull
  • narrator
    Jay Brazeau
  • music
    John Sereda

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Education

Ages 12 to 17
Study Guide
School subjects
Supply copies of the poem to the class; read it aloud. Discuss McCrae’s inspiration to compose the poem. Why is it important to remember the soldiers who died at war? What is their legacy to us?
John McCrae's War: In Flanders Fields
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