Willard: The Hermit of Gully Lake

Hermit approaches celebrity status
Documentary of his life is returning to the screen for more showings
The News

For a man who spent 60 years alone in the woods, folks in Northern Nova Scotia can't seem to get enough of the

Hermit of Gully Lake. Due to unwavering popular demand, the Plaid Marquee will once again present the documentary, Willard: the Hermit Of Gully Lake. For this, the second set of encore screenings, the Plaid Marquee will take the hermit on the road, with an afternoon matinee on Feb. 10, 2 p.m. at Empire Studio Seven Cinemas in Truro. Later, the same day, it will be shown at at Empire Studio Seven Cinemas in New Glasgow, at 7 p.m. If necessary, additional screenings will be held at each location immediately following the first screening.

Sheldon Hewey, president of the Plaid Marquee, said the most recent screening of the documentary filled Empire Theatre's largest auditorium twice and still people had to be turned away.

That's 183 seats filled twice - which he admits is more than he's ever had to deal with and likely more than the theatre has received in recent memory. Hewey himself said he's only ever had a chance to view the documentary at home - and he arrived early to the last screening - only to find a line of movie-goers stretched out the theatre's main doors.

But he says there's less irony in the crowds-flock-to-hermit-movie than is immediately apparent. In the later years of his life Willard MacDonald probably "had more visitors in the run of the week than I ever have - so it's all relative." For instance, ATV clubs were known to stop by and journalists sought to speak with him.

And the crowds turning up to see the film are quite diverse. Two previous dates in December and early January resulted in sell out crowds, an unplanned double screening, and dozens of disappointed people being turned away. In what has become a surprise regional hit, the legend of the hermit who shunned publicity continues to be written as hundreds flock to theaters to watch his story.

The full-length, 2007 production tells the remarkable tale of MacDonald who jumped a troop train during the Second World War rather than going off to war. As a deserter, he would eventually live alone for over 60 years in the woods of Gully Lake, receiving support, as well as scorn, from local residents. In later years, his fame as a recluse would grow and he would come to endure curious visitors, media stories, a fire, and eventually make history when he became the first Canadian to receive a federal pension without signing for it.

Produced and directed by Amy Goldberg of Pushback Productions, this 78-minute documentary uses interviews with friends and acquaintances along with donated pictures to provide some understanding of Willard's life and why he chose to shun contact with the outside world.



Film made of Maritime hermit's harsh life
Recluse Lived For 60 Years In The Wilds Of Nova Scotia
Published: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Charles Mandel, CanWest News Service

HALIFAX - Willard Kitchener MacDonald wanted nothing to do with people. He terrified small children with his grisly appearance and a reclusive lifestyle that had him survive life for more than 60 years in the wilds of Nova Scotia's Cobequid Mountains.
Many townspeople regarded him with compassion; others with contempt. He survived isolation, the harsh rigours of a life outdoors and the burning down of his house. He became the first Canadian in history to receive a pension without having to sign for it. Now the remarkable life of a hermit who became a local legend is the subject of a documentary film opening in Halifax on Sept. 16.
Willard: The Hermit of Gully Lake tells the story of how Mr. MacDonald survived for decades in isolation, much of it in a tumbledown, one-room shack.

 


Hermit of Gully Lake: lonely life goes big-screen
Published: Wednesday, September 05
CHARLES MANDEL, CanWest News Service

Willard Kitchener MacDonald wanted nothing to do with people. He terrified small children. Many townspeople regarded him with compassion; others with contempt. He became the first Canadian in history to receive a pension without having to sign for it. And now MacDonald's remarkable life is the subject of a documentary film.

 


 Life of N.S. hermit to debut at Atlantic Film Festival
Tue. Sep. 4 2007 9:56 AM ET
Melanie Patten Canadian Press

Willard Kitchener MacDonald hid alone in Nova Scotia's woods for 60 years, disliked posing for pictures and eschewed the everyday hustle and bustle of the outside world.
But Toronto-based filmmaker Amy Goldberg - whose documentary on the famous recluse debuts at the Atlantic Film Festival this month - said she believes MacDonald secretly desired bigger, better things.
"In one way, Willard, I think, wanted to be famous," said Goldberg, of Pushback Productions, in an interview.

 


Life of famous N.S. hermit to make big-screen debut at Atlantic Film Festival
September 3, 2007 - 13:04
MELANIE PATTEN

HALIFAX (CP) - Willard Kitchener MacDonald hid alone in Nova Scotia's woods for 60 years, disliked posing for pictures and eschewed the everyday hustle and bustle of the outside world.
But Toronto-based filmmaker Amy Goldberg - whose documentary on the famous recluse debuts at the Atlantic Film Festival this month - said she believes MacDonald secretly desired bigger, better things.

 


Hermit found solitude, if not peace
Published: Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Charles Mandel, The Ottawa Citizen

Willard Kitchener MacDonald just wanted to be left alone, but he remained a figure of controversy in a small town, writes Charles Mandel in Halifax.

 


Life of famous N.S. hermit to make big-screen debut at Atlantic Film Festival
By MELANIE PATTEN

MacDonald who was born in Massachusetts in 1916 - might not necessarily agree that he craved the limelight, but few can argue that he was famous in these parts.
"Once people read about the way he lived out there, he certainly became a celebrity, no question," said Hector MacKenzie, 87, a friend of MacDonald's who was interviewed for "Willard: The Hermit of Gully Lake."
"There's no other human being, I don't think, that would live the way he lived out there. How he survived is a good question."
MacKenzie, who plans to attend the screening in Halifax on Sept. 16, said he doesn't believe his old friend would have a problem being the focus of a film.
"I wouldn't think so," said MacKenzie, who lives near Alma, N.S.
The feature-length film is narrated by Canadian musician Randy Bachman, who also composed the score.
The documentary features about 30 interviews from friends, acquaintances and strangers, including former Nova Scotia premier John Hamm.

 


Life of famous N.S. hermit making big-screen debut
By MELANIE PATTEN

Willard Kitchener MacDonald hid alone in Nova Scotia's woods for 60 years, disliked posing for pictures and eschewed the everyday hustle and bustle of the outside world.

 


Hermit film premiering in Halifax
MELANIE PATTEN - THE CANADIAN PRESS

Willard Kitchener MacDonald hid alone in Nova Scotia's woods for 60 years, disliked posing for pictures and eschewed the everyday hustle and bustle of the outside world.
But Toronto-based filmmaker Amy Goldberg - whose documentary on the famous recluse debuts at the Atlantic Film Festival this month - said she believes MacDonald secretly desired bigger, better things.
"In one way, Willard, I think, wanted to be famous," said Goldberg, of Pushback Productions, in an interview.

 


By MELANIE PATTEN

Toronto-based filmmaker Amy Goldberg - whose documentary on the famous recluse debuts at the Atlantic Film Festival this month - said she believes MacDonald secretly desired bigger, better things.
"In one way, Willard, I think, wanted to be famous," said Goldberg, of Pushback Productions, in an interview.
For six decades, the man lovingly dubbed the Hermit of Gully Lake took shelter in the woods near Earltown, N.S., north of Halifax, after abandoning a troop train during the Second World War.
MacDonald, who said in interviews he didn't believe in killing others, remained suspicious of the government and police long after Canada declared an amnesty for army deserters in 1950.
He kept mostly to himself in a dilapidated, two-metre-by-two-metre shack, where he would sometimes compose music on a guitar he had fashioned himself.

 


N.S. hermit to make big-screen debut
By MELANIE PATTEN

The feature-length film is narrated by Canadian musician Randy Bachman, who also composed the score.
The documentary features about 30 interviews from friends, acquaintances and strangers, including former Nova Scotia premier John Hamm.
Goldberg, who wrote, directed and produced the film, said it was nerve-racking when she and a team of crew members descended on Colchester County for 30 days in 2005.
By then, the old hermit had died from natural causes and hypothermia.
"We were very worried that no one would talk to us," said Goldberg, who had heard stories of MacDonald from her husband, a Nova Scotia native.
"Initially, we didn't think we were going to have a film, but by the end of the shooting, people were so giving with their pictures and their time and their newspapers.
"I think it was like, 'Tell the story, but tell the story in a way that keeps his life going in a positive way, and not a negative way.' "

 


Get your fest
Checking in from the back of a movie theatre, where he's been living for the past week, with a mid-point report on the Atlantic Film Festival.
By Carsten Knox

… And, as usual, the documentaries have really impressed. Though they remain unseen by me, I've heard good things about Canadian docs The Bodybuilder and I and Willard: The Hermit of Gully Lake. Of the docs I did catch, it was Zoo that left me most unsettled. Phrases that I'd never expected to see sharing space in a blurb I'd write, "extraordinarily beautiful" and "true story of death by bestiality." But there they are.