This film shows authentic talent. Because I feel Quebec has a potential that is not used in most productions, I will evaluate this movie in comparison with the typical awarded Quebec movie. I won't comment on the subject of the movie.
What we find in The Deserter is, firstly, the photography. It is just great, near the higher standards in films. With such photography and camera, the producers could easily made movies on pair with the most successful Hollywood productions. I'm saying this because it always feels Quebec films cannot be on pair visually with the American productions.
The other major achievement of the Deserter, is the acting and implicitly, the directing. The director Simon Lavoie has achieved what most other Quebec directors simply can't. He helped the actors act in a true way, making abstraction of the cameras, without hesitation, with lots of character authenticity, and with much ease and integration on the filming set. All this elements are simply poorly achieved in most Quebec productions. And I believe the reason is hiding behind the quality of the directing, and perhaps of the producing.
This film can be used as a benchmark. The benchmark to be used when arguing that the Quebec film industry is under the control of a few low quality directors and producers, that simply stay in the way of expressing the potential of creativity and of acting in Quebec.
