2024 Blind Spot Series: Polytechnique

 

Official synopsis: A dramatization of the 1989 Montréal Massacre, during which several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

My aim for Blind Spots are usually films that came out before my life time, but sometimes there's an occasional film in the 2000's that's eluded me, and in my quest to see all of Denis Villeneuve's films, Polytechnique is that film for me. 

I hate how desensitized school shootings are in America these days. While I was somewhat familiar with this true life horror story, I could not help but watch and think "why didn't they do this?" "How did those men just leave?" And I shouldn't have to ask those questions, but I live in an age where I read about one every month and my kid tells me about the active shooter drills he does at school. It's inescapable. 

I wondered what Villeneuve could have to say, bringing this massacre to light. He clearly did his homework, and got approval from the families first. You can see the great filmmaker he will become here. It's shot very well and there's a sense of dread throughout since we know what's about to happen. It's biggest hurdle was the story. There was a male character we followed for some time, and I get why his story was included, but I felt like I would rather be spending my time with a woman. It was ultimately women that were affected most by this. 

I appreciated that they never named the incel who committed these crimes. And the most gratuitous scene is his own cowardly suicide. Villeneuve might not have made the perfect film about this, but he didn't stomp all of their memories either.

Grade: B-