Customer Reviews

Trudeau

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was all enthusiastic about this at first, being a bit of a fan of Canadian culture generally. Not knowing much about Trudeau, I was hoping this could fill in a few blanks.

They made a decision when making this to film the four episodes of the miniseries (only chapter selection available on the DVD, incidentally, not episode selection) in different styles. The first hour or so, covering Trudeau's first election campaign, is shot in a jittery and tricksy way derived from early Richard Lester, while the second hour - the October 1970 kidnapping crisis - is in a more tense and documentary style, harking back to Costa Gavras, and so on. I'm sure they thought this idea was just way cool. I'm not quite sure it works, though. It means that viewers who, like me, are not thoroughly saturated in Trudeauiana (is that a real word? If so, is it the only word in English that has five vowels in a row?) are baffled and distracted by the arty direction, and start to wonder impatiently why they don't just tell the story in a more simple manner.

It's doubly annoying because the story itself is fascinating, and a lot of the acting is top-class, especially Colm Feore's feline turn as the eponymous Prime Minister, bald patch and all, cooing at reporters in his silky voice and rolling around on the floor with Polly Shannon's puppyish Margaret.

However, the more you watch, the more it settles down. By the time you're deep in the brilliant recreation of the October crisis (much of the brilliance of which stems from the cleverness with which they've overcome the evident lack of budget that would have given them things like proper rioters), the Lesteresque silliness of the first hour has totally gone, and you start to get a much more palpable feel for what it must have been like to have Trudeau as your prime minister. Especially noticeable is Feore's superb rendition of the famous 'Just watch me' TV interview, where he swats down a hapless reporter with massive patrician coolness. (I've watched footage of the original interview, and while Feore doesn't look like or sound much like Trudeau, any more than he looked or sounded much like Glenn Gould in '32 Short Films About Glenn Gould', he still gets the guy, totally, just as he got the whole voltage and presence of Gould in the earlier film. If anything, he's marginally more presidential and less shifty than the real Trudeau.) The third part, which covers the collapse of the Trudeau marriage, is apparently in the style of early 70s Bertolucci, about which I don't feel qualified to comment. But Polly Shannon comes into her own as a rather tragicomic Margaret, singing a toe-curlingly embarrassing song of her own composition to a visiting first lady at a public reception.

My initial review of this was disappointed, but it's grown on me enormously, so I've revised my comments upwards - I'd give it another star if Amazon would let me. I still suspect that it'll be most valued by Canadians who want to see a familiar story told in a fresh way, while the rest of us will wonder why an unfamiliar story is being told so self-consciously. But it was made for CBC, not for export.

This film completely captures the incredible life force that was Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Colm Feor IS Trudeau, he exudes all the characteristics we knew about and those we didn't as well. I really enjoyed seeing more of the former PM's personal life with Margaret and his boys (although we do not see that much of his sons in the film). It really showed Trudeau's human side as well as his political savy. I loved the Trudeaumania scenes as well which were very reminiscent of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, which is no doubt the intent. The style of the film is not that of the typical Canadiana biopic, it blends modern elements and uses great Canadian music from the times as well. An all around excellent film, whether you're fascinated by Trudeau or whther you just want to know more about Canada during this tumultuous period.

This is a great movie by all means. It details Trudeau's life from when he was a political novice to his rise as the Prime Minister of Canada. Canada was simply infatuiated with the guy, or at least that's what the movie attempts to show - the TrudeauMania. The movie shows both his good and bad qualities, while simultaneously exploring his rocky relationship with his wife Margaret (played nicely by Polly Shannon). In my opinion, the best part of the movie was the part dealing with the issue of Quebec's separation, an issue that still lingers throughout the country. That constitutes the bulk of the movie, as well as the bulk of Trudeau's problems. He firmly believed that Quebec was a part of Canada. We get a glimpse of the underground politics that came into play with Rene Levesque, the leader of the seperatist effort. Finally, we are shown how the first Constitution of Canada was drafted and came into approval from the provinical Premiers and finally from the Queen of England. Overall, a highly entertaining movie, sometimes hilarious, other times sober and dramatic. A must for anybody interested in the history of Canada and one of its most important figures.

Main asset of this effort is strong acting from Colm Feore and Polly Shannon. While rather long (assume it was made for Canadian TV?) it is engaging and covers a lot of ground. Political movies are always a gamble, but I thought this was one of the better ones. There are many memorable scenes, especially between the married couple. Some of the committee meetings could have been shorter without loss of information.