Action: The October Crisis of 1970

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.

The October Crisis of 1970 I would rate this film a 6 out of 10 stars. I would give it less, however I tried to consider that the film was produced in 1974 and thus had it's limitations. The October crisis of 1970 is a documentary that tries to tell the story of the FLQ, a Canadian terrorist group in Quebec. It follows the group from it's early forming through the kidnapping of two prominent politicians. It tells of a time when the charter of rights in Canada was suspended citing the need for security around the nation. The Documentary was overall hard to follow. It took quite a bit of rewinding to get exactly what was being said. This could be because the event in history was confusing and scary for the people experiencing it, but I personally would not have taken a creative move like that. The narration didn't help matters much. It was very lack luster. Everything was said with the same tone and speed. It would have been much better if the narration had shown some of the emotion that was running through the film. There were no clear section breaks or transitions to help the viewer comprehend what they were watching. The speed of the film was a bit shaky, starting of slow and then gaining speed like a snowball as it got farther along. Slowing down the film, adding more subtitles, and section breaks would make the film a bit easier to understand. The film did have a few good notes. It offered perspective from multiple different views of the incident. It also makes good use of the existing video and audio of the event. The series of events that make the October crisis were important events that needed to be written about. If the video were updated and remade today, I think that it would be more effective as a teaching tool.

Okay so this was a very informative movie/documentary. It had a very old feeling to it, but it is a little older so that's to be expected. I'm in this history of Canada course and going with stereotypical Canadian beliefs; I assumed Canadians were always just calm and collected but this proved me 100% wrong! Quebec was not only like the major role player but it (depending on how you look at it) was also the only problem. Those in Quebec wanted to just save their tradition of having French apart of their daily lives but the English was slowly taking over and with my mindset I thought those who were opposed would be peaceful. Ummm no, those separatists were blowing stuff up, angry because of change and when the queen shows up, game over. The thing that caught me off guard was how a politician can just up and say, "Canada is going through a major crisis!" How can you just know that? I mean sure there's a REALLY big issue going on and he was right, but to call it that early? I'm a bit suspicious. Regardless of that, if Trudeau was being labeled as a traitor for wanting new and bringing in English ways why not take a more..political approach and not a toddler approach? Kidnapping people? Starting riots? Killing police officers? I was appalled at how the police were beating the opposers like it's the 50's in America. This was a very opinion-changing event for me, seeing the ACTUAL footage of this happening. I understand the Queboicois wanting to withstand by their views but going to the extremes that they did was uncalled for. With that said I would recommend this for anyone wanting to get some deep insight into the rather history of Canada we don't really see, nor does Canada really broadcast. I now know that Canada is just as American as I assumed, they were, things don't go your way? Push forward and ask questions later.

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.

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.