Review: Ross Munro’s Short Film EUROPEAN TOUR ’73

Canadian filmmaker Ross Munro delivers a lovely little short in European Tour ’73. The 15 minute film is energetic, witty and heartfelt – packing as much into its running time as his family did into their 1973 summer vacation. 

European Tour ’73 uses a blend of original 8MM family footage, animation and archive material to tell the story of how Ross, his four brothers and parents travelled from Canada to England and then across Europe in the summer of 1973. It’s only when the family hit the last stages of the trip do they learn why their father made the trip – a way of walking in his own father’s footsteps. Munro senior was a soldier in WWII, something he rarely talked about. 

In a sense, European Tour ’73 is all about connecting with family history. About knowing where you came from. This is made all the more poignant when we learn that the film is Ross’ way of telling his younger sister Sandra about that six week sojourn the family took back in 1973 – she was born the following year. 

European Tour ’73 has a very simple aim, but it achieves it -and then some.