I might be convinced that this was the best Canadian film at the time of its release, but since 1971 so many better Canadian films have been released, including from Quebec, that it shocks me that this one is still so highly regarded by so many.
Part of my dissatisfaction with this movie relates to the English subtitles, for the version recently (Aug 2008) shown on one of the Movie Network channels here in Canada. It's painful to listen to the actors speak dozens of words in French, and then to only get a four word translation in English that cannot possibly reflect what was actually said, particularly when more than one person was speaking. The richness of the dialogue is just ruined for the English viewer by the poor subtitling. I feel somewhat guilty for not understanding French, because that ability may have improved my opinion of the film. But I have to rate it as it comes to me.
I also felt it wasn't always clear which man was which in the film. I kept getting Antoine mixed up with the other similar men. I'm actually still not sure how many or few there were (from 2 to 4). Unless that's intentional, that really shouldn't be happening. I'm not sure if this is due to the film itself or the subtitles somehow.
Last, I felt that the movie didn't really tell me a lot about anything. I did see a boy learn about death and fallibility, but that happens in a lot of movies. I didn't learn much about that time period in Quebec, the asbestos, or the town.
On the positive side, I did get the feeling that I was spending my time viewing a real family in a real town, and that experience was somewhat peaceful despite the subject matter towards the end. Although I disliked a lot about the film, I did keep coming back to the fact that the portrayal was of real people. Unfortunately, I need more to my stories than people-watching, therefore my score of 6.
Part of my dissatisfaction with this movie relates to the English subtitles, for the version recently (Aug 2008) shown on one of the Movie Network channels here in Canada. It's painful to listen to the actors speak dozens of words in French, and then to only get a four word translation in English that cannot possibly reflect what was actually said, particularly when more than one person was speaking. The richness of the dialogue is just ruined for the English viewer by the poor subtitling. I feel somewhat guilty for not understanding French, because that ability may have improved my opinion of the film. But I have to rate it as it comes to me.
I also felt it wasn't always clear which man was which in the film. I kept getting Antoine mixed up with the other similar men. I'm actually still not sure how many or few there were (from 2 to 4). Unless that's intentional, that really shouldn't be happening. I'm not sure if this is due to the film itself or the subtitles somehow.
Last, I felt that the movie didn't really tell me a lot about anything. I did see a boy learn about death and fallibility, but that happens in a lot of movies. I didn't learn much about that time period in Quebec, the asbestos, or the town.
On the positive side, I did get the feeling that I was spending my time viewing a real family in a real town, and that experience was somewhat peaceful despite the subject matter towards the end. Although I disliked a lot about the film, I did keep coming back to the fact that the portrayal was of real people. Unfortunately, I need more to my stories than people-watching, therefore my score of 6.