The Van Doos in Afghanistan - The Road to Mushan

The Van Doos in Afghanistan is a feature-length documentary that propels you directly into the heart of the action among the soldiers serving with the Royal 22e Régiment. In this clip, we meet Corporal Maxime Émond-Pépin, who suffered a serious leg injury and lost an eye on his first mission in 2009. Despite his injuries, he rejoined his battalion in Afghanistan. He talks about how important it was for him to get back to the infantry.

The Van Doos in Afghanistan is a documentary that propels you directly into the heart of the action among the soldiers serving with the Royal 22e Régiment. In this clip, Lieutenant-Colonel Michel-Henri St-Louis and Major François Dufault take stock of the progress that has been made since the beginning of the military intervention in Afghanistan. While being realistic and aware of the fragility of the situation, they are, nevertheless proud of the work that has been accomplished by Canada`s armed forces.

The Van Doos in Afghanistan is a documentary that propels you directly into the heart of the action among the soldiers serving with the Royal 22e Régiment.

In this clip, we follow Captain Stéphane Guillemette on the ground as he conducts daily searches for improvised explosive devices or hidden insurgent weapons caches. Conducting daily patrols of the Panjwaye district demands constant vigilance.

The Van Doos in Afghanistan is a documentary that propels you directly into the heart of the action among the soldiers serving with the Royal 22e Régiment. Private Stéphane Perreault is passionate about his profession in the infantry. He talks about what made him decide to enlist and how proud he is to serve in the military as part of the French-speaking Royal 22e Régiment. He plans to carry on his work for a long time to come.

The Van Doos in Afghanistan is a documentary that propels you directly into the heart of the action among the soldiers serving with the Royal 22e Régiment. In this clip, the soldiers gather for a minute of silence in memory of Corporal Yannick Scherrer, their comrade-in-arms. His coffin is carried onto the plane that will fly him home to his final resting place.

In this documentary, we hear directly from francophone soldiers serving in the Royal 22e Régiment (known in English as “Van Doos”) who were filmed in the field in March 2011, during their deployment to Afghanistan. They speak simply and directly about their work, whether on patrol or performing their duties at the base. The film's images and interviews bring home the complexity of the issues on the ground and shed light on the little-understood experiences of the men and women who served in Afghanistan.

This documentary marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal 22e Régiment, the only French-speaking Canadian battalion to fight in the First World War. Widely known by its colloquial name, “The Van Doos”, the battalion served with distinction on several fronts, including both world wars, the Korean War, and in numerous U.N. peacekeeping operations. This film offers a moving tribute to both the living veterans and the lost soldiers of the Van Doos. Their personal stories and narratives bring a little-known page of our history books to life. This vibrant elegy features a moving score by Claude Naubert performed live by the regimental formation La Musique du Royal 22e Régiment.

The NFB’s 2nd Academy-Award winning film. In this short film, Norman McLaren employs the principles normally used to put drawings or puppets into motion to animate live actors. The story is a parable about two people who come to blows over the possession of a flower.

For more background info on this film, visit the NFB.ca blog.

High Wire examines the reasons that Canada declined to take part in the 2003 US-led military mission in Iraq, shining a spotlight on the diplomatic tug of war that took place behind the scenes with our neighbours to the south, who have often adopted an interventionist foreign policy to serve their own economic and geopolitical interests. Canada’s historic refusal could have had disastrous consequences, but a number of key players and other analysts remind us of the terrible price we pay when diplomacy fails.

A tribute to the combatants in the First World War, this film traces the conflict through the war diary and private letters of five Canadian soldiers and a nurse. Hearing them, the listener detects between the lines an unspoken horror censored by war and propriety.

The film mingles war footage, historical photos and readings of excerpts from the diary and letters. The directorial talent of Claude Guilmain breathes life into these 90-year-old documents and accompanying archival images so that we experience the human face and heart of the conflict.

For the educational sector, five documentary vignettes have been drawn from the film: Nurses at the Front, The Officer's Role, The Life of the Soldier, Faith and Hope and The Trenches, each with further information on its particular subject.

This third short film on the Battle of Arras shows artillery fire, troop movements and several explosions on the battlefield. German prisoners can also be seen in the trenches, as well as enemy bombs falling on the town of Arras. A classic World War One film.