Politécnico

An amazing little French Canadian film about the Quebec massacre. Personally I recommend watching everything Denis Villeneuve has made. This guy is among the greatest living directors in the world right now and he is definitely making some of the most interesting films of our time...Incendies, Prisoners, Arrival, etc. This is one of the films Denis made before he became well known. I've seen everything he's made now except for his newest version of Dune, which I'll check out in the theatre when it opens in October. Every single one of his films was well worth the watch! Forget the overhyped Fincher and Nolan of the newer generation of directors, this guy easily wipes the floor with them. In my view, Denis is definitely the most interesting filmmaker alive today that hasn't made anything prior to the mid 1990's. 7/10.

As a piece of cinema, this is truly a sight to behold. The filming is beautiful in its ability to tell the story of a horrific shooting in Montreal in 1989. The black and white filming and the direction remind of the "Dekalog" by Krzysztof Kieslowski.

The acting is exceptional. The performance by a young Karine Vanasse is powerful in its understated subtlety.

The story is deeply moving. This type of plot isn't for everyone, but if realistic drama is enjoyable to you, as it is to me, then you will be impressed by the quality of this movie.

This film, shot mostly handheld with a black and white color grade, is a realistic recreation of a real life nightmare scenario that happened not too long ago in modern history. Focusing on a small group of fictional recreations of real life people, this film truly shows the dangers of untreated pyschological disorders, including depression, and the dangers of anti social idealogy in the hands of an armed person. It is a well done film with excellent acting from the cast, and is an anxiety inducing and truly negative experience, but one worth watching, to both remember the horror of the past, and to realize that such events still happen far too frequently in the present.

From the opening scene of students busy doing their copying in front of an array of copying machines, and the sudden disruption caused by a burst of gun fire, Polytechnique grabs the viewers by the collar and placed them right in the middle of this horrific event that took place in Montreal in 1989.

The film claimed to be a fictionalized account of the massacre, in which 14 women were killed and many others were wounded, and I don't know to what extent it adheres to facts. But that does not matter. As far as story telling goes Denis Villeneuves did it with skill and without fanfare. B/W images, and a restraint use of dialogue and music add to the mood of this film, which is not an uplifting experience by its very nature. Acting was good by the several male and female leads. Editing was excellent.

Overall, I look at this films as Canadian cinema at its best - despite the depressing nature of the subject matter.

There is a beauty that pervades this movie, despite its awful subject matter, and perhaps that and the constantly falling snow, help imbue this with a sadness all the more profound. I was confused as to why there was no resistance or assistance and whether it was a hair colour change at the end that added to my confusion but none of this affected my feeling of reverence towards the film itself or its director. I'm not sure if I had seen this upon release I would have imagined Denis Villeneuve would be equipped to go on to make a successful sequel to Blade Runner a remake Dune or to tackle Cleopatra but the talent is certainly evident, even in this quiet, subdued, calm and effective account of a mass slaughter.