Polytechnique (2009)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

In December 6, 1989, disgruntled 25-year-old student Marc Lépine shoot 28 people and then killed himself in École Polytechnique in Montreal. He aims his anger at feminists and blames his failures on them. This is a dramatized version of the true events. Maxim Gaudette plays the unnamed killer. Valérie (Karine Vanasse), Stéphanie (Evelyne Brochu) and Jean-François (Sébastien Huberdeau) are fellow mechanical engineering students and friends. The film follows these four characters before, during and after the incident.Director Denis Villeneuve shots this in black and white. It gives a cold feel to the movie. I think the killer's writing is chilling but the minutia of the fellow students' lives are boring. The only exception is the interview for the internship. The black and white is quite effective during the shooting incident. There are a lot of comparison to Gus Van Sant's Elephant. The main difference for me is that this is a real incident. I almost never call for a strict reenactment but this needs that kind of detail. I would prefer that the 20 minutes shooting spree be recreated perfectly.

Based on the Ècole Polytechnique massacre that took place on December 6, 1989 in Montreal, Polytechnique documents the horrifying tragedy in which a gunman who claimed to be "fighting feminism" murdered 14 young women & wounded several others before turning the gun on himself and is shown from the perspectives of three people; the killer, one of his wounded victims & the victim's friend.Excellently directed by Dennis Villeneuve (director of Incendies & Prisoners) plus exquisitely captured in black n white, the film grabs the viewers' attention from its opening moment & is told in a manner that only pulls them in, in spite of its dark story. Running at only 77 minutes, it not only recreates the dreadful event but also covers the aftermath of the three main people involved in the story.The three characters we are introduced too are nicely presented on the screen by their respective actors, each delivering a very fine performance. However, the back-n-forth jump this film takes from time to time turned out to be quite distracting from the main subject. As for its faithfulness with the historical account, the film covers the gunman's killing spree with stunning accuracy.On an overall scale, Polytechnique is a hard-hitting docudrama that neither tries to make a statement nor offers any kind of redemption but simply offers an insight of what happened on December 6, 1989. It presents a man who lost his way in life & blamed women for all his miseries and yet never really judges him for the judgment part is left to viewers themselves & in that aspect, it's sure to divide its audience.An unsettling, tense & haunting recount which once experienced won't be easily forgotten, Polytechnique is a daring work of filmmaking crafted in memory of those 14 young women who lost their lives & few who survived but were scarred for life only because of the extreme misogynistic view of an individual who went completely crazy and the film as a whole subtly exhibits just how much hatred there can be in this world. Thoroughly recommended.

I've read many comments by people stating that this film is bias because it only reflects the point of view of the victims who were mainly female and that is just giving support to the feminist movement but that is not the case.This film isn't about the shooter, it isn't about the families...it's about the victims/survivors of this horrific ordeal. It does not focus on the background of the killer, it does not explain in great detail why he committed this terrible act of violence... it depicts what the victims/survivors went through.Some people tend to feel empathic for the shooter, commenting on the fact that he felt prosecuted for his gender and that he felt threatened and hatred for females who in his own opinion were taking jobs away from males who deserved them... Kind of like the two shooters from Columbine who to some people became a icon for anti-bullying, thinking that the only reason they committed these crimes was because they were prosecuted by their peers and the community. It doesn't change the fact that both the Columbine shooters and Marc Lepine took innocent lives and then so cowardly take their own.Some people liken this movie to "Elephant" and I agree but it also reminds me of "April Showers" since both movies did not focus on the killer but on the people who suffered through the event.

I thought that this film really portrayed the story very well. If you have ever had to endure a Montreal winter, even for a few days, it was captured so beautifully. The lack of dialogue drove you to rely on your other senses. This film really made you think that this could actually happen here in Canada! I think all of the negative comments are just from some of our friends in the south who have been through many school shootings and are desensitized to it. You must member, 20 years ago, there was nothing like this happening anywhere in North America! let alone a higher education institution!The 20th anniversary is coming up, and I will be wearing a white ribbon. I know the man who runs this program and will be donating as well. Violence against women is still a very live reality in this world, and we should do everything we can to educate against it. Seeing this film is a great start for anyone.