Special Ed is a special Winnipeg film

Special Ed, an incredible new film by John Paskievich, could be the noted Winnipeg documentarians best work yet. Thats partly because of Paskievichs insight, empathy and endlessly patient eye (which weve seen in Ted Baryluks Grocery, If Only I Were an Indian, The Gypsies of Svinia and Unspeakable). But this kooky fight-the-system saga also gets a boost from some true-life plot turns that you couldnt possibly script.

Paskievich set out to make a doc about fellow Winnipeg filmmaker Ed Ackerman, a creative, eccentric guy whos best known for Primiti Too Taa, a perfect little 1988 animated short.

Ed is planning to revisit an unfinished decades-old project at the National Film Board when he gets sidetracked into a quixotic quest to save three dilapidated houses in Winnipegs core. Paskievichs three-year record of Eds impossible dream combines shades of the mythological Sisyphus and the biblical Job with a whole heap of slapstick comedy.

This is a fascinating character study of a man in the grip of a fixed idea. Eds attempt to rehabilitate his housesusing salvaged materials, hair-raisingly haphazard DIY, and what seems to be a never-ending timelinemight not quite qualify as a magnificent obsession. But it is magnificently weird.

Special Ed is kind of A Portrait of the Artist as a Hopeless Renovator, with crazy montages of planks breaking and windows smashing and things falling over. Paskeivich never comments directly, but the film seems to strongly suggest that inspired amateurism just isnt enough when youre dealing with failing foundations and basements filling with water.

Still, Ed is interesting company, whether hes dragging a giant steel I-beam behind his truck, digging a well in his backyard or running for parliament. Hes a champion procrastinator, an inveterate collector of odd objects, and a naturalthough possibly deludedoptimist. Paskievich gets in close enough to craft an intimate portrayal, but he also allows enough room to let Eds words and actions speak for themselves.

At one point, Ed reels off a list of organizations with which hes currently feuding: Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba Telephone System, the City of Winnipeg, Revenue Canada, the Winnipeg Police Service. Viewers can decide for themselves whether hes an irritating crank or an irresistible dreamer, whether his constant windmill-tilting is admirable idealism or sheer crazed contrarianism. Maybe Ed is fighting the good fight. Or maybeas the films wry tagline suggests (A problem for every solution)he has reached the point where he just likes to fight.

Even though some sequences play as farce, theres a pervasive underlying sadness to the film. Ed declares that he wants to fix these houses to leave an inheritance for his three now-adult children, whom he didnt see much when they were growing up.

After premiering at Torontos Hot Docs, Special Ed makes its Winnipeg debut at Cinematheque (October 17-19 at 7:00 p.m., October 20 at 2:00 p.m. and October 23 at 7:00 p.m.)

Hear Alison Gillmor on Up to Speed Wednesday October 16 at 4:40 p.m.