The Hockey Sweater

The Hockey Sweater

Infobox Film
name = The Sweater


caption = The cover of "The Hockey Sweater"
director = Sheldon Cohen
producer = Marrin Canell
Derek Lamb (executive producer)
David Verrall
writer = Roch Carrier (story)
Sheila Fischman (English text)
starring = Roch Carrier (voice)
Jean-Guy Moreau (voice)
music = Normand Roger
editing = David Verrall
distributor = National Film Board
released = 1980
runtime = 10 mins. 21 secs.
country = flagicon|Canada Canada
awards = 1 BAFTA, 1 Ottawa International Animation Festival
language = English/French
imdb_id = 0134127

"The Hockey Sweater" ("Le chandail de hockey" in the original French; originally published as "Une abominable feuille d'érable sur la glace" ["An abominable maple leaf on the ice"] ) is a short story published in 1979 by Quebec author Roch Carrier.

Though a relatively recent story, it has become one of the best-known works of literature in Canada. It was made into a National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animated short in 1980, known as "The Sweater", or "Le Chandail". The short is often shown, in both French and English, to elementary school students, making it very well known amongst Canadian youth.

The story is widely considered an allegory for the linguistic and cultural tensions between anglophone and francophone Canadians, and an essential classic of Canadian literature. An excerpt from the story is now also commemorated in both official languages of Canada on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill.

Plot

"The Hockey Sweater" is based on the real experience of Carrier growing up in an isolated part of Quebec in the 1940s. He, like all boys his age, was a big fan of the Montreal Canadiens and their star player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.

When Carrier's Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater wears out, his mother writes to Eaton's to order a new one. Unfortunately, the company sends a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, the Canadiens' bitter rivals. A loyal fan of The Canadiens, Carrier protests having to wear the new sweater. But his mother refuses to let her son wear the old worn out sweater and, apparently unaware of the business's traditional policy they advertised, "Goods satisfactory, or money refunded", insists that if they were to return the sweater it may offend Mr. Eaton, himself a Leafs fan. As a result, young Carrier is forced to wear the Leafs sweater to his hockey game, feeling humiliated before the other players on the ice, each proudly wearing Canadiens sweaters.

Reviews

When critic Leonard Maltin saw the NFB production of "The Sweater", he accredited it with the revelation and explanation of the overwhelming importance of hockey in Canadian culture. It remains one of his favourite animated productions. fact|date=December 2007

Importance

"The Hockey Sweater" represents the lives of the many Canadians that are raised in rural parts of Quebec or Canada. It also represents the significance of the massively popular Canadian pastime of ice hockey.

"« Nous vivions en trois lieux : l’école, l’église et la patinoire; mais la vraie vie était sur la patinoire. » In writing one line, one simple quote, Roch Carrier summed up our entire country, our culture, our history, our people. He is Canada. There are some things that are simply Canadian, that belong to us and us alone. That is Roch Carrier."

The story also depicts the long history of conflict between French Canadians and English Canadians by comparing it to the rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens.

References

* cite book
title = The Hockey Sweater
author = Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen
year = 1984
publisher = Tundra Books
id = ISBN 0-88776-169-0 (hardcover)
* cite book
title = The Hockey Sweater
author = Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen
year = 1985
publisher = Tundra Books
id = ISBN 0-88776-174-7 (paperback)
* cite book
title = Le Chandail de hockey
author = Roch Carrier
year = 1987
publisher = Livres Toundra
id = ISBN 0-88776-171-2 (hardcover)

External links

*imdb title|id=0134127|title=The Sweater
* [http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?id=13316&v=h&lg=en&exp=3261 "The Sweater" at the NFB]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=director&director=Cohen%2C+Sheldon&id=13316 Watch "The Sweater" at the NFB] (for free)
* [http://fuddytv.com/video/view_video.php?viewkey=dfaecdc212708f721b78 Watch the modern version by FuddyTV.com "The Hockey Sweater"]


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