What in the holy hell?

I'm not Canadian . . . ;)

*And* I don't really know the extended plot of this film. However, I'm taking a wild guess there is a possible clue in the "H2O" of the title. The US has for decades studied the possibility of diverting Western Canadian rivers to provide more water south.

Even if the movie isn't about this, "Byzantine power games" describes the mildest behavior some politico-industrial folk down here might get up to if they *really* wanted something Canada had.

Personally, I don't see that Canada is so unbelievable as a setting for international espionage. Remember, not so long ago, the US was complacent about being at risk on our soil.

In case anyone is interested, here's a site with some current info on the H2O situation: http://www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/water/watsale.htm

My H2O cents. :)

I watched the entire two part series and it was Fantastic. Great ending, sends a really important message for canadians. The acting was generally fantastic and the plot realy got deeper as it went along.

canadian film making can be great in any Genre, it's just not as high budget as american production, many of which end up being of poor quality anyways.

I am British not Canadian but I think that Canada is not a bad place to set such a story.
It was a story about national identity,or lack of it,also about being dominated by your larger neighbour and about the use of political power for anti democratic ends.
It did not just happen to be set in Canada,look at the nation's history,had to fight the USA in 1812,has the issue of the first nations,a divided country Quebec versus the english speakers,western Canada feeling isolated from the rest,war powers used during Quebec crisis in the 1970s ,anmd during a police strike in Montreal.
I have been all over Canada from east to west (by train the best way to do it) I was amazed that many Canadians had never travelled in their own country and how they were not interested in doing so.
Many canadians are not very nationalistic,they run their country own a lot and sometimes the attitude is sort of "I just happen to live here".
It is not a great film,it is a bit complicated,it lacks action and unless you are a political anorak some of the talking goes on a bit.
But I did like it,the acting was good but I wished Leslie Hope had done a bit more runing around,more action would not have reduced the serious intent of the story,the end is ok but should have been more dramatic,an invading army perhaps,running down the flag ?

Two words: Igor Gouzenko.

Google that and post whether you think Canada an unlikely locale for international espionage.

The best way to understand Canada is that it started off as a colony--a French colony-but the French lost it to England. England didnt really care about Canada--it cared about the US side.
Britain gave temp language rights to the French which led to the situation we have now where there are two languages--but French is only spoken in Quebec.
On the West Coast of Canada we had to learn french but never use it. We would be better off learning Cantonese in school the way things are these days.

Canada has some weird fixations. It has some serious violence--even gun violence--but it is hush hush about it. If you criticize Canada you are seen as a trouble maker.

In Canada, it is illegal to speak negatively of a politician--the only country in the western world with that kind of slap against free speech.

Canada claims to be compassionate but we have an annual slaughter of seal babies and seek to sell the genitals to China. I cant imagine any other country that would boast about that.
Paul Gross even did a documentary promoting shark fins!
http://www.pulpanddagger.com/movies/essay_77.html

The difference between the US and Canada is that Canada tries to hide problems.
I.e. Residential Schools. Canada used the RCMP to round up tribal kids and stuck them in abusive schools where rumor has it, some were murdered and buried on site.
But you wont see the Canadian media talking about it.

Canada's unofficial motto is Peace, order, and Good Government. No wonder our movies are so dull.