If you didn't enjoy Gus Van Sant's Elephant, then hopefully you'll enjoy Polytechnique. The director doesn't use long camera shots of characters walking, and they have more of a back-story. In Elephant, the characters had practically none. I enjoyed the film, regardless, but Polytechnique is done better, and I'm not saying this because I'm Canadian.

I was only two when the massacre happened, but I learned about it as I grew up. Like the events depicted in the film, a disturbed misogynist with a semi-automatic rifle walks into Montréal's École Polytechnique, on a winter day in 1989. He picks a classroom, tells the males and females to divide up, and you can guess what happens. What I didn't learn is that he wasn't done. He continued his rampage in the school, until he committed suicide.

The film is in black and white, making things more depressing, along with shots of snow falling. We occasionally jump back and forth in time, from earlier in the day to sometime after the tragedy. It was a little confusing for me, but I eventually understood what was happening. The killer is shown thinking and preparing, beforehand. Whenever he's on screen, it's especially tense. Part of that is credited to Maxim Gaudette's performance.

The other main characters are two female students living together, and a male friend of theirs, who wants to help the killer's victims in the school, instead of fleeing. These three characters aren't highly developed, but we do get to know them more than the ones in Elephant. As for the killer, his development comes from his narrated suicide letter. Regardless, I don't believe the filmmakers were out to make him look like a monster. He's basically filmed the same way the hijackers were in United 93. Just people.

The version of the film I'm reviewing is not actually dubbed. From what I understand, the scenes were retaken with the actors speaking English. It's more obvious, for instance, when you see someone writing on paper in that language. Personally, I would've liked to see it in French. There wouldn't even be that many subtitles, because the film doesn't have much dialogue. It doesn't really matter, though.

Polytechnique plays like the tune from the soap opera The Young and the Restless. It's tragic and memorable. The other day, a teenager in Britain nearly went on a rampage in his school, but it was prevented because the threatening message he posted on Newgrounds was quickly reported by someone* with a heart. A heart that these filmmakers have, to not exploit the tragedy, but to show it respectfully, and dedicate it to those who lost their lives that day. Lest we forget.

9/10

*John Philip Neufeld (aka Rig)

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