Eschewing the jingoism that so often mars the efforts of many Australian film-makers tackling any aspect of World War II, Aaron Wilson’s debut feature Canopy is an intense depiction of the Asian theatre of war in eloquent and poetic microcosm. Recalling John Boorman’s classic Hell in the Pacific (1968) with Lee Marvin and Mifune Toshiro, this battle of stoicism, patience and wits played out in a Singaporean swamp exhibits a more reflective tone. Almost completely without dialogue, Wilson shifts the action forward with care and precision, slowly drawing the audience into the predicament of its two protagonists: an Australian pilot and a Japanese soldier as they manoeuvre around each other in a battle for survival. Actors Khan Chittenden (Caterpillar Wish) and Mo Tzu-yi (Snowfall in Taipei ) rise to the challenge and serve the writer/director’s methodical script well. Making the most of a modest budget, this independent feature impresses with some surprisingly sophisticated special effects shots and startles with a visually evocative punctuation point ? the finest moment of Stefan Duscio’s cinematography - that ends the film on a definitive and powerful emotional note. (Russell EDWARDS)