​by SALISON CUNNINGHAM-MCMILLAN
TV TIMES
December, 2002

 

TV-movie traces how eight ordinary men survived an extraordinary ordeal

Two years before 9/11 became a cipher equated with terrorism, the day marked the start of a horrible ordeal for a group of Edmonton pipeliners.

​

It was on Sept. 11, 1999 that heavily armed guerrillas kidnapped seven Albertans and an American colleague who were all working in the Ecuadorian jungle. Held for 100 days, the eight men — dubbed the "ocho gringos" — endured unbelievably harsh conditions, including forced marches, near starvation and the ever-present fear of disease and death.

​

The kidnappers were never caught. And, remarkably, all of the hostages — Rod Dunbar, Barry Meyer, Colin Fraser, Neil Barber, Brant Scheelar, Leonard Carter, Grant Rankin and Steven Brent — survived.

​

Now, their story of heroism, courage and camaraderie is dramatized in a new TV-movie called 100 Days in the Jungle. Based on the book by Edmonton Journal reporters Shawn Ohler and Vicki Hall, the production isn't what you'd call conventional holiday fare. But it is solid entertainment — and a story of importance to all Canadians.

​

Told largely from the perspective of the survivors’ de facto leader, Dunbar (played by Michael Riley), 100 Days is a lot more than a thrill ride filled with action, danger and guns. The movie offers a well-timed message about human fortitude and faith. It is also a testimony to the link between camaraderie and survival. The film’s potent script by Sean O’Byrne (Mystery, Alaska), artful direction by Sturla Gunnarsson (Rare Birds and Scorn) and powerhouse performances make the point that the men survived because of one another.

​

Most of 100 Days was shot on location last fall in Costa Rica. “It was like doing Gladiator on the road,” producer Nicolette Saina says. “If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Just after we were begging and pleading to get our [props] out of customs, an earthquake rolled through.”

​

And if the quake didn’t put the crew on notice that art often imitates reality, the jungle offered plenty of proof: torrential rains that wiped out roads, a plethora of mysterious illnesses, a bevy of bugs and even kidnap threats against the crew, which sparked the hiring of armed guards on the set.

​

“It was hard to make this film, compared to other films,” says Brendan Fletcher, who plays Barber. “But compared to the actual events, well, it can’t hold a candle. It’s a completely different thing.”

​

Gunnarsson has wisely chosen not to vilify or make caricatures of the kidnappers. His even tone makes this a provocative and effective film when measured against movies that degenerate into shoot-’em-ups.

​

“It was important to me to show that this was resolved through negotiation,” says Gunnarsson, an award-winning director whose resumé includes Diplomatic Immunity, a feature that was also shot in Latin America, also with Riley in its cast.

“It’s funny... with a film like this, people talk about the mud, and the snakes, and the venom, and the earthquakes and the hurricane and it’s all true,” Gunnarsson says. “But you end up getting the sense that [making the film] was a nightmare. And it wasn’t. It was a great adventure. The actors were so committed to honouring the characters they were portraying that they were really willing to slog it out in the mud.”

​

The film’s ensemble dispels the myth that Canada doesn’t produce stars. In addition to Riley, who starred in the TV series Power Play, the cast includes Hugh Thompson (Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111), Jonathan Scarfe (The Sheldon Kennedy Story), Aidan Devine (The Arrow), Fletcher (Scorn), Adrien Dorval (The Pledge), Nathaniel Arcand (American Outlaws) and Patrick Gilmore (Mentors) as the hostages. Michele-Barbara Pelletier co-stars as an eco-tourist who is also kidnapped.

​

Nicholas Campbell (Da Vinci’s Inquest), Peter Outerbridge (Chasing Cain), Brian Markinson (The Curse of the Jade Scorpion) and William B. Davis (The X-Files) appear as part of the team trying to free the men, while Liisa Repo-Martell plays Dunbar’s wife, Jane. Rounding out the cast is a talented group of South Americans as the guerrillas, including actor Juan Patricio Arenas, who embodies purpose and dignity as the guerrilla leader.

​

“It was kind of a lightning-in-a-bottle cast that way,” says Riley, whose research for his role included spending time with the real Dunbar. “Everyone wanted to honour these guys. I had a picture of Rod and his crew on the hotel room wall. And regardless of how bad the day went, [I’d] just look at that and realize that, at this time a couple of years ago, they were still out there, and there was no [catering] service and no hotel.”

​

All the actors turn in terrific performances, with some especially noteworthy. Riley proves why he’s one of Canada’s busiest and most award-winning actors. Thompson’s supporting work as Fraser is incredibly nuanced and poignant. Devine is always reliable, and Fletcher makes breathing interesting to watch.

One of the film’s final scenes, the hostages’ return, was shot in Edmonton last Dec. 21. By coincidence, it was the same day, two years before, that finally saw the homecoming of the real ocho gringos. The coincidence wasn’t lost on the cast.

​

“When you’re doing a film like that, you owe those guys,” Thompson says. “You don’t owe them an imitation; what you owe them is to [reveal] their spirit. I hope that when the [hostages] see it and the country sees it, they’re going to get that spirit, because that’s what got them through.”