By Sheldon Spackman

War film

Film depicts remarkable life of 100-year-old Red Deer WWII veteran

Nov 9, 2019 | 10:20 AM

Red Deer, AB – The story of one of central Alberta’s oldest living war veterans will soon be shared on the silver screen.

Joseph Young, who is 100, was among the roughly 14,000 Canadian soldiers who landed on Juno Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day – June 6, 1944.

The remarkable life story of the Joffre area man will now be told in an upcoming film titled Poetry, War and the Dance of Life – a 30-minute documentary currently under production by Red Deer-based Whole Village Moving Pictures Ltd.

Director and co-producer Randy Kirk says the project is being developed with the assistance of a $50,000 grant from Telus STORYHIVE.

“We were very lucky and very grateful to get the funding from Telus,” admits Kirk. “We did pitch it earlier in the year, but before we even got the grant, we had gone out and met with the Young family and we decided we were going to do the documentary anyway. So getting the grant was just an awesome bonus because it allowed us to hire local camera people from Red Deer and we also hired a local composer and website and research people.”

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With previous film projects already under his belt, Kirk says he and co-producer Linda Pidhirney were looking to make something different when they discovered Young’s story.

“I think it’s just a wonderful story,” says Kirk. “It’s a story about poetry and his experiences in the war and life after the war. It’s got some great messages in it.”

Kirk says Young’s humbleness is what stands-out most for him.

“He’s very humble about what he did in the war and he’s very honest and open about it,” says Kirk. “I find that his story, combined with his wife Nettie’s story together, they’ve persevered through hardships and had good times and bad times and raised a lot of kids on a farm and they’ve stuck together. They’ll have been married for 71 years in December.”

Kirk says the film portrays a message of not giving up and working things out.

“Back when they were starting out farming (1946), it was rough on them and they made it, and they still have their farm in the family,” he exclaims. “There’s a love story there, there’s a story about war and the horrors of war and there’s also stories about farming, raising kids and sticking together, so there’s a lot of great things in there.”

With the film currently in post-production, Kirk anticipates the finished product to be ready for exclusive broadcast on Telus later next year.

“They’re going to broadcast it sometime probably in the fall of 2020, but we’re hoping to have a screening here in Red Deer sometime in June or early July,” adds Kirk. “We’re hoping to do that at one of the local theatres. We don’t know which one yet.”

For those who see the film next year, Kirk hopes they take away the message that there’s always hope through hardship.

“It’s worth it sometimes to stick things out and work through it,” explains Kirk. “War is a bad thing and there’s some great stories that we’ve been told and just to persevere. You can go through war and almost be killed and raise a family and do all these things, and to just not give up hope and believe in yourself and believe in hope.”