Day 52: Polytechnique (2009)

This is another one of those films that I picked up when it came out on DVD, but never got around to seeing. This was a film that I felt I should see, but never found myself in the mood to watch.

The film is a dramatization of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre, in which a lone gunman, Marc Lepine, killed 14 women. Shot in black and white, the film dramatizes the fateful day. It does not attempt to explain why it happened, but rather portray the events of the day. The viewer is filled with a sense of dread from the start of the film which carries on throughout the film, yet there is a morbid fascination that keeps the viewer watching.

The lack of background into the killer provides the viewer with a lack of understanding of the events of the film - we are just left with a guy who blamed women for the failures on his life. The film should be seen, as sadly, far too many Canadians don't know about the massacre, but the film itself doesn't provide much to the dialogue surrounding the massacre.