Review of The Trotsky (2010) by Walter M — 09 Oct 2011

Even with his sister Sarah's(Tommie-Amber Pirie) support, Leon's(Jay Baruchel) hunger strike at their father's(Saul Rubinek) factory goes badly awry with Leon getting arrested. So much so, that he disowns his own son but his stepmother(Anne-Marie Cadieux) is more forgiving and invites him back for sabbath where he is told that he will now be attending public school from now on. In response, Leon goes to enlist legal aid from Frank McGovern(Michael Murphy) who does agree that he needs professional help, just not of the legal kind since Leon thinks he is the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. Just for the record, Alexandra(Emily Hampshire) also thinks he is nuts. At least, he makes some friends at his new school...

As it gets better as it goes along with a slightly weak ending, "The Trotsky" is a very funny, inspiring, intelligent and political romp with some great touches(Any movie that name checks Ken Loach is okay with me) that strangely enough has some faint echoes of "The Boys from Brazil." Wait, think about it for a second. And even if it is an exaggeration, it would still explain a few things. While Trotsky was not as bad as Stalin, he was not writing about peace, love and understanding but revolution.(Even though I'm an anarchist, I'm not here to relive any century old feuds unless somebody has a lot of water balloons lying around.) Canada might be a strange place to foment a revolution since it already has socialized health care, gay marriage, a Tim Horton's on every corner and, most importantly, nationalized televised hockey every night. But you have to start somewhere. And is there anything more fascist than school uniforms? Just don't forget the cheerleaders.