QUEBEC MY COUNTRY MY PAYS (John Walker, Canada). 89 minutes. Rating: NNNN
John Walker looks at the history of Quebec’s distinct society in this quietly personal documentary.
An anglophone born and raised in Montreal, Walker has a specific perspective on the traditions, Catholic and otherwise, that shaped la belle province’s sense of itself as a perpetually beleaguered minority state.
With context and commentary from fellow directors Denys Arcand and Jacques Godbout, screenwriter Louise Pelletier and critic Paul Warren – speaking in French and English – Walker finds a province (and a nation) struggling to transcend its deeply conservative wiring and find a better future. I hope we get there.
April 30, 6:45 pm, TIFF 2 May 3, 12:30 pm, TIFF 2 May 8, 3:45 pm, Scotiabank 14