How to Start Your Own Country (2010) User Reviews

A Short, Rather Funny Documentary

[coolguydirk · 8/10 · 12 September 2010]

I saw this at TIFF, I think it might have been the world premiere (the film makers were there). As a Canadian I can't hep but feel a bit of pride towards this movie, it's now one of my favourite documentaries.

I won't really bother with a synopsis, the movies basically about people who started their own micro-nations (tiny countries). Most of the countries are unrecognized internationally and their founders are quite eccentric.

The film makers go around to around to 5-6 different micro-nations, some more interesting than others. The camera work is standard documentary, but there are some interesting camera angles. The interviews are all entertaining, every "leader" has a different view of the world. My personal favourite is the New Free State of Caroline, which was both hilarious and interesting.

All in all it was a interesting documentary, it deserves more attention than it seems it's going to get. I would go as far as to say it's one of my personal favourite documentaries. The interviews are eccentric and the stories are interesting. You should definitely check it out.

An interesting topic, poorly done.

[plupu66 · 3/10 · 14 September 2010]

The title of the film is quite intriguing and I am also a great fan of Canadian films. Unfortunately this one was a disappointment. Most of the "micro-nations" that are presented in this film are nothing more than the farms or backyards that their owners have "proclaimed" as "countries". I guess you and I can put on a red velvet cape and a Halloween-type crown and proclaim whatever land we own as our "kingdom". The world is full of "more real" unusual micro-nations that the film could have presented. One example that comes to mind is Swaziland. There are so many islands in the Pacific. What about the Cayman Islands where a large chunk of the world wealth resides? Instead, Shapiro and co travelled to such "unexplored" corners of the world as USA,Australia and Great Britain where they found some pieces of land (or sea)that their owners declared "countries" as a joke or in order to make a buck or too from kitschy tourism.