From its lush, mountainous, tree-filled locales to its bitterly serious, quasi-historical subject matter, The Timekeeper is unmistakably Canadian. What sets this adventure-drama apart from dozens of similar films fated for high school social studies classes is its top-notch cast of supporting characters. Craig Olejnik (star of NBC’s The Listener) provides a passable performance in the movie’s leading role, but it’s veteran actors Stephen McHattie (seen most recently in Watchmen and Pontypool), Gary Farmer (Dead Man) and Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands with the Devil) who truly shine.
Adapting Montreal author Trevor Ferguson’s novel of the same name, The Timekeeper succeeds in setting its desolate tone within minutes. The year is 1964 and baby-faced Martin Bishop is only 18. With his pa recently passed away and the family farm seized by the bank, Bishop sets off for work as the timekeeper at a Northwest Territories railway construction site. Just a few footsteps inside his new home, someone tries to steal Bishop’s bag. Soon enough, he’s introduced to the bane of his existence, the camp’s overbearing foreman, Fisk (McHattie), who has no qualms about stiffing his workers.
Cook the cook (Farmer) is similarly stubborn. Introducing his character with the first of many poetic prophecies, Cook then tells Bishop to feed the camp’s snarling dog by hand, followed by a warning that the last man who tried it nearly lost his thumb. Intimidation is the name of the game, but Bishop sticks to his guns, something no other man under Fisk’s rule seems capable of or even willing to try. That is, until we meet “the garbage eaters,” a motley crew cast out from the camp. Led by the shotgun-toting Scully (Dupuis), they’re losing their morale at the same rate as their minds, yet they’re Bishop’s only allies in his fight for justice.
With a storyline this nerve-wracking, it’s unfortunate that the film makes several minor missteps, effectively bursting its bubble of tension. First, the musical score’s mellow repeated theme, made up of coffee commercial-style slide guitars and harmonicas, would have fit the mood better in Milo and Otis. Secondly, despite looking far younger than his age, the fact of the matter is that Olejnik was born in 1979 and is in no way believable as an 18-year-old.
Nonetheless, these are nitpicking details and The Timekeeper should still keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Any chance to see such a skilled group of actors onscreen is worth the price of admission, even if it means venturing out into the Canadian cinematic wilderness.
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