Polytechnique

On December 6th 1989, Marc Lépine entered the hallways of École Polytechnique carrying a semi-automatic rifle. Claiming to fight feminism he determinately shot and killed fourteen women. Following this he put the gun to his own head.

A voice-over reveals the full text of Lépin's suicide note: "If I commit suicide today... it is not for economic reasons (for I have exhausted my financial means, even refusing jobs) but for political reasons. Because I have decided to send the feminists, who have always ruined my life, to their Maker." This is as close as the film comes to explaining his actions. Lépner stripped of his name is turned into a secondary character in this drama, the focus of the film instead falling on two fictional students.

Not wishing to exploit the event, Villeneuve makes his precautions in editing and mise en scéne thoughtfully creative. Shot in black and white, most of the tangible violence is left out of sight but never out of mind. Formalistic in the extreme "Polytechnique" becomes a representation of true events meant for the commemoration of those killed.
LAURA PERKINS