Jack

Just watched the Jack Layton biopic. I felt very connected to this film - as did we all, surely, even those who did not agree with Jack's politics. Just so cruel, for a man who fought all his life to make a difference, to be struck down just months after he finally climbed to the pinnacle. My neighbour Richard sniffed, "It's too soon. It'll be a hagiography." Well, maybe and maybe. But so what? We need heroes, and this man's very public struggle with death was heroic. There was something magnificent about his exuberant idealism and giant heart.

They did a great job of squashing a man's entire life into an hour and a half, interrupted by a zillion commercials (luckily there was a special on Ed Sullivan's comics on PBS to watch during the breaks), and not boring the pants off us with internecine Canadian politics. They brought Jack Layton back to life, reminded us of what he cared about and how he lived. Bravo to the CBC for that.

Speaking of Canadian heroes - here's another of mine, CBC's Eleanor Wachtel, with some woman she interviewed recently in New York.