Polytechnique (2009)

	Directed by: Denis Villeneuve	COUNTRY Canada GENRE Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Polytechnique RUNNING TIME 77 minutes
	Produced by: Don Carmody Maxime Rémillard
	Written by: Jacques Davidts Denis Villeneuve

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
The Killer	Maxim Gaudette
Jean-François	Sébastien Huberdeau
Valérie	Karine Vanasse
Stéphanie	Evelyne Brochu	-

Review

In contrast to the perpetrator's actions at the École Polytechnique in 1989, Denis Villeneuve's interpretation of the events is graceful, tactful and meaningful. Filmed in black and white, ostensibly in order to give the presence of blood a less invading quality, Polytechnique begins in the hours leading up to the attack and parallelly follows the killer and three of the affected students: two female victims and one male bystander who desperately tries to find the right course of action in the midst of the chaos. The film is narratively economical and passes no judgement explicitly. Instead Villeneuve lets the characters' actions speak volumes, and he gives his picture an extra zest by including some subtle jumps between timelines. An artistically fulfilled movie with a hard-hitting subject matter which would be Villeneuve's first stepping-stone towards larger projects.