Review of Polytechnique (2009) by Jim M — 30 Aug 2009

Montreal, December 6, 1989: Marc Lepine (aka Gamil Gharbi) enters Montreals Ecole Polytechnique armed with a hunting rifle and knife, over the course of 20 minutes he precedes to murder 14 women and injure another 14 people before committing suicide. This is the story of that day.

Filmed in both French and English and shot in black and white with a documentary feel Polytechnique shows us the events of that day from the point of view of Lepine (credited only as the Killer, primarly threw the suicide note he left expressing his hatered towards feminism) and a male and female student of the school. We follow the student into the aftermath of the massacre how some lives where destroyed by it though they where spared Lepines bullits, and some overcome it though the memory of that day still haunts them. Denis Villeneuve direction is spot on for an event of this nature, never sensatonalising it. However despite the blessing of survivors and the families of the victims, he has caught some flak for leaving the cause of the event open to interpretation (feminists and gun control activists are paticularly pron to appropreating 6/12/89 to their cause, though critics of violence in the media and of the treatment of immigrants and their children, as well as those of poverty and social isolation have also used it to push their views, well others view it as an isolated act of a mad man). Villeneuve, clearly sympathizing with the slain, their families and the survivors, nontheless simply presents events as they happen without commetry (IMHO the most appropriate why when dealing with an event like 6/12/89). The acting is top notch led by Maxim Gaudette (the Killer), Sebastien Huberdeau and Karine Vanasse (the two students we follow). I hope to see more of them in the near future. A must see for people of my generation who where too young (I was 5 at the time) to remeber or where born after and proof that Canadian films can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best the world has too offer.