After "Dune" See Denis Villeneuve's "Polytechnique"

10/28/2021

French Canadian director Denis Villeneuve’s last two films have been big-budget Hollywood productions in “Blade Runner 2049” and “Dune”.  When an extremely talented and thoughtful filmmaker like Denis “goes Hollywood” it’s always a sad moment.  Sure he is now extremely rich, but his film don’t feel like they are really his, they are just apart of some bigger machine.  His breakout film was the 2009 film “Polytechnique”.  An intensely disturbing account of the mass shooting at the Montreal Polytechnique school in 1989.  Although this film was shot in black and white to mute out all colors, especially blood, it is similar to Gus Van Sant’s 2003 Columbine film “Elephant”.  Both films were highly acclaimed by critics, with “Elephant” even winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Polytechnique” opens with a bang (so to speak) as we are jolted by a scene of graphic violence, after this we cut back and are introduced to a seeming normal young man but who has a seething hatred for women. He is your typical disgruntled young male who wants to blame society for all his problems.  He is isolated, lonely and is not given a name, just credited only as “The Killer”.  

We are introduced to Valerie and Stephanie, two female students who we follow throughout the film.  We also follow a male student Jean-Francois, who looks to have some of the same issues as The Killer, but deals with them in different ways but ultimately arriving at the same conclusion.  Valerie is one of a few female engineering students and takes a lot crap for it but does get the internship that she so desperately wanted despite all this. She is strong willed and takes things as they come, she also has the strong support of people around her, especially her friend and roommate Stephanie.  As they both walk into a class room like another day little do they know what is about happen on this cold December day.

Through a cloud of anxiety and fear The Killer sits in his car preparing for the assault.  He carries a rifle wrapped in a garbage bag across the parking lot and into the building.  People think nothing of it and don’t suspect a thing as he keeps to himself and doesn’t say a word.  Roaming the hall for awhile contemplating his life.  He finally stops at the class room that just happens to have Valerie, Stephanie, and Jean-Francois inside.  There is this heavy moment of truth scene, where he could just as easily leave with nobody ever knowing, but it passes and he enters the room.  He orders the men to leave.  As he makes his way to the door Jean-Francois glares at the killer and thinks for a moment, Do I to try and stop him?, but he doesn’t.  This decision haunts him and caused enormous guilt as we find out later.  He runs from the room and notifies security about the situation.  When the Killer starts roaming the halls looking for more victims, Jean-Francois comes across a seriously wounded woman and comforts her as best he can but is completely over his head.  Later, when he finally gets back to the classroom he is witness to a scene of utter horror as every woman has been shot dead.  After the events of that day Jean-Francois suffers from debilitating PTSD and in a heartbreaking scene visits his mother before driving out the frozen lake to kill himself by carbon monoxide asphyxiation.

We then go back to that classroom scene to see things from Valerie’s point of view and how she and Stephanie survive being shot.  Valerie can still walk although just on one leg and goes for help as Stephanie clings to life.  We seen more of the devastation that Jean-Francois had seen.  The Killer still roams the halls and Valerie makes it back to the room only to find that Stephanie has died.  She hears somebody coming and plays dead, it is Jean-Francios.  We get scenes of the Killer’s rampage and his cold callousness towards his female victims.  How much is enough? When will this end? He does eventually get down on his knees and shoots himself. 

On a brighter note Valerie survives but like Jean-Francois has to deal with the repercussions of that day for the rest of her life.  We flash forward and Valerie has the jobs she has always wanted and then finds out she is pregnant.  She fears of what will become of her child, but she comes to the realization that all you really can do is show it love.

A movie like “Polytechnique” could be rather exploitive in the wrong hands, but Villeneuve does his best to honor the actual victims of this tragedy and not to glorify the killer.  Like I mentioned at the beginning the film was purposely shot in black and white as to not glorify the killing by showing large amount of red blood.  Although there is no getting around the fact that Villeneuve did use this film to jump start his career.  His subsequent films have reinforced the fact that he is indeed a gifted filmmaker.  His jump to big budget Hollywood sequels and remakes will hopefully be short lived so he can return to more original stories and content.