Action: The October Crisis of 1970

This is an interesting video about the FLQ Crisis in Quebec. I liked the depth of the whole video, starting from the real beginning of the crisis, because it really set the stage for what the Crisis was about. In some ways, I think what happened in Quebec was inevitable, since the loss of the region by the French to the British. The first British rulers of the region tried to accommodate the French with laws such as the Quebec Act, but in the end, the French-Canadiens would never truly belong to the expanding British Empire. This would result in under-representation in the government, which in turn would reduce awareness for the complaints that the French in Quebec would raise against the government in the 1960s. The FLQ was a militant offshoot of these protesters with reasonable demands or representation and equality. I liked how the video included the full reading of the FLQ manifesto on Canadian news, because it helped really show what the views of the organization were. I found it interesting how the video mentions that after the manifesto was read on the news, many people sympathized with the goal of the FLQ, even though they didn't necessarily agree with their methods.

My biggest complaint about the video is the narrator. I don't know if he was talking that way to increase suspense, or if that was just how he did the narration, but it was extremely dry and boring. I'm not sure if it was just the audio quality from footage that was recorded over 50 years ago, but there some parts where the sound design seems fake. There are a few parts where it seems like someone in a sound studio dubbed over the video from the time-period with sound effects like whistles or car crashes.

Overall I would rate this video a 6.5/10 (7/10 if the sound design isn't faked in some places).

Action: The October Crisis of 1970 succeeded in some things, but failed in others. Overall, the film was incredibly informative and well written. The overall structure of the documentary suited the topic. When discussing the historical events surrounding the terror attacks in 1970, they carefully explain the details leading up to the government cracking down on radical groups. While this is tedious at times, it gets most of the ideas across regarding the severity of the terror attacks and the political upheaval happening in Canada in 1970. While the documentary does an incredible job at relaying the details of these historical events, most of the time is spent with a monotone, drawl narration. This narration, while informative, is incredibly hard to listen to. If the narration had been slightly more enthusiastic or engaged, the information would be much easier to process. The closest thing the narration could be related to is a college lecture of 300 students with a bland professor; while the content might be interesting, a wide audience will not be intrigued by what is being presented. Overall, when looking at this documentary for information, it should receive a 10 out of 10. When factoring in the narration and droning nature that it has, the documentary should get a 6 out of 10. Yes, the documentary is good, but it becomes incredibly boring after the first 10 minutes simply because of the narration.

This film provided a wealth of interesting footage from the historical events leading up to and during the October crisis. It was really neat to be able to see the strike breakers come to blows with strikers. I was also surprised to see just how much footage there was of police officers exhibiting some questionable treatment towards the Quebecois protestors. The film also provided a great deal of speeches from the crisis including those of Trudeau, Bourassa and the full broadcast of the FLQ manifesto. I found the footage of the manifesto to be the most interesting part of the film and the October crisis in general. The idea of reading a terror group's work on national television is an event that would signal the end of days to many if it happened in the United States and yet is it presented here as a simply fact, and a relatively small one compared to the other events going on at the time. René Lévesque's comments on Laporte's death were also quite interesting, it was strange to see the contrast of how he acted before and during his press interview, he really exhibited a side of politicians rarely seen. I did feel that the film had a tendency to let a few scenes run unnecessarily long and that the narration could have been greatly improved. The music used had little impact, especially compared to the primary audio of speeches and protests. The editing also seems like it could be improved as there were a few transitions that were so abrupt I though I accidently skipped ahead. I liked that the film went into some of the details of the opposition to the War Measures Act, I felt like this was not discussed enough in the text. Overall the film provided an interesting look at the October crisis filled with great historical footage. Some of the technical aspects could be improved and some scenes could be cut down. I'd give this film a 6/10.

Just want to start off that this movie is a documentary but spoken by a very boring sounding narrator. Also, it seemed that the narrator had a very strange accent that made it hard for the average American to understand. To help understand the video if you payed close attention to the events you could usually figure out what the narrator is talking about. If you can get past that the documentary was very informative and showed a different side of Canada. This filmed showed the events that the Canadian terrorist group in Quebec did. From what I gathered there was a lot of tension that Quebec would loss its French culture to the British. So the French-Canadians showed their emotions by kidnapping Politian's, and blowing up buildings, starting riots, pretty much anything that made a huge impact the French-Canadians did. This was a very big issue for Canada but in the movie the narrators voice hardly changed so, me the viewer, did not get the intense feeling that I should have got. Even in the News interview they seemed calm but knew that this was a very big issue that they needed to overcome. I get that the French-Canadians of Quebec were angry and wanted to keep their French heritage in there Providence but they went about this the wrong way. This video would be a great way to show of what not to do when you want something a curtain way. I now understand why this was not a huge part in my History of Canada course because it was a bad/ almost embarrassing time for Canada. Overall, I would give this documentary a 5 out of 10 because it did have some very interesting events and had actual footage of the events, but the way the video was constructed was terrible and made it hard to watch.

Rating 9/10 The October Crisis tells the tale of a tumultuous time in the history of Canada, a populist uprising in Montreal, tensions worn thin against a new radical but legitimate political party that threatens to secede and a small but dangerous group of young "visionaries" take the stage in what is a well crafted and thoughtful retelling of the events that took place in the days of October of 1970. The impressive collection of first hand footage, and detailed analysis of the events as they happened,along with commentary from survivors and involved persons exemplifies great journalism and is complimented by an equal class of cinematography. The little known tale of Canada's experience with terrorism and civil strife. The impressive design of the film is the expanding view of events, starting with the tensions and political happenings then expanding to the reactions of Canadians, and French Canadians. The story is balanced giving both sides a reasonable explanation. It is historically accurate and does not serve as a dramatization or inflation of any events, it tells and shows with footage where available all of the events, their locations and aftermath. The story is told such that it attracts and holds onto one attention and keeps it for most of the film. I do find it shocking at the end, the kidnappers are allowed easy passage to Cuba in only short negotiations and there has been no attempt to pursue them, at least in the time scale of the films production. The interviews and recordings from interviewed Politicians, police and other involved in the crisis added a human element to the story and further improved its marks. Some issues with the film were the dry voice overs were somewhat hard to listen to after a time. They discussion was valuable but eh audio quality was lacking in some parts.