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Usenet Posted 17 years ago
Screenwriting
Saw "Polytechnique"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194238/#comment
Here's a good summary from an IMDB contributor:
On December 6, 1989, Marc Lepine wrapped his Ruger Mini-14 semi automatic rifle in a plastic garbage bag, filled the pockets of his coat with ammunition, and headed off to class at the Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, the engineering branch of the University of Montreal. By the time he was through, fourteen women lay dead, and another ten women and four men were in critical condition. Lepine culminated his misogynistic rampage and wretched existence with a bullet to his head, leaving behind a rambling three page letter railing against feminists who had turned society against him and ruined his life and everything good that had been created by man.
Even today the magnitude of the tragedy runs deep in Montreal's collective psyche, and its into this minefield that the film Polytechnique dares to tread, stirring strong sentiments from the public and critics alike for recounting an event whose wounds still live in the consciousness of victims families and survivors.
Filmed in stark black and white, and shot twice, once in French and again in English using the same cast, Director Denis Villeneuve imbues the film with an almost suffocating foreboding as a pallor of death hangs over the day like the snow that gently falls throughout. Rather than dwell on Lepine, he instead shifts the focus to two fictional students, Valérie (Karine Vanasse) and Jean-François (Sébastien Huberdeau), each bringing the perspective of their respective gender to the story.
By framing events through the lives of these two, Polytechnique packs a most powerful punch. With the exception of a bone chilling beginning, Lepine's murderous rampage virtually plays second fiddle to the story of Valérie and Jean-François, which is how Villeneuve wanted it. He studiously avoids dwelling on death, and shifts the film's emphasis to that of life, grappling with tragedy head on, and the aftermath of anguish that exploded that day like so many bullets from Lepine's gun.
This isn't some sensationalist gory ode to a mass murderer, but rather a memorial to the victims of that day. It's not that often you see that in a movie, which makes watching Polytechnique an act of remembrance, and a cause to reflect.
Well worth seeing.
"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
Here's a good summary from an IMDB contributor:
On December 6, 1989, Marc Lepine wrapped his Ruger Mini-14 semi automatic rifle in a plastic garbage bag, filled the pockets of his coat with ammunition, and headed off to class at the Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, the engineering branch of the University of Montreal. By the time he was through, fourteen women lay dead, and another ten women and four men were in critical condition. Lepine culminated his misogynistic rampage and wretched existence with a bullet to his head, leaving behind a rambling three page letter railing against feminists who had turned society against him and ruined his life and everything good that had been created by man.
Even today the magnitude of the tragedy runs deep in Montreal's collective psyche, and its into this minefield that the film Polytechnique dares to tread, stirring strong sentiments from the public and critics alike for recounting an event whose wounds still live in the consciousness of victims families and survivors.
Filmed in stark black and white, and shot twice, once in French and again in English using the same cast, Director Denis Villeneuve imbues the film with an almost suffocating foreboding as a pallor of death hangs over the day like the snow that gently falls throughout. Rather than dwell on Lepine, he instead shifts the focus to two fictional students, Valérie (Karine Vanasse) and Jean-François (Sébastien Huberdeau), each bringing the perspective of their respective gender to the story.
By framing events through the lives of these two, Polytechnique packs a most powerful punch. With the exception of a bone chilling beginning, Lepine's murderous rampage virtually plays second fiddle to the story of Valérie and Jean-François, which is how Villeneuve wanted it. He studiously avoids dwelling on death, and shifts the film's emphasis to that of life, grappling with tragedy head on, and the aftermath of anguish that exploded that day like so many bullets from Lepine's gun.
This isn't some sensationalist gory ode to a mass murderer, but rather a memorial to the victims of that day. It's not that often you see that in a movie, which makes watching Polytechnique an act of remembrance, and a cause to reflect.
Well worth seeing.
"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
Top answer
All I know about this horrible incident is what the journalist Mark Steyn (from Montreal) wrote about it in the ******* magazine, Macleans. He doesn't mention that 4 men ended up in critical condition, which is odd, so I'm taking what he says with a grain of salt. But still, I have to wonder how the **** why the men and women in the classroom didn't just jump the madman.
- All I know about this horrible incident is what the journalist Mark Steyn (from Montreal) wrote about it in the ******* magazine, Macleans.
- He doesn't mention that 4 men ended up in critical condition, which is odd, so I'm taking what he says with a grain of salt.
- But still, I have to wonder how the **** why the men and women in the classroom didn't just jump the madman.
- In the early 90s, a madman started shooting people on the Long Island Railroad, and a bunch of men rushed him and piled on him, And in last year's massacre in Virginia Tech, there was a heroic prof who barred the doorway with his body so his students could escape through the window.
- Here's an excerpt from Mark Steyn's column.
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1 Answers
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All I know about this horrible incident is what the journalist Mark Steyn (from Montreal) wrote about it in the ******* magazine, Macleans. He doesn't mention that 4 men ended up in critical condition, which is odd, so I'm taking what he says with a grain of salt. But still, I have to wonder how the **** why the men and women in the classroom didn't just jump the madman. In the early 90s, a madman
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