MY INTERNSHIP IN CANADA
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA D: Philippe Falardeau. Canada. 108 min. Sep 15, 6 pm Scotiabank 1 Sep 17, noon Ryerson. See listing. Rating: NNNN
After the relatively serious Monsieur Lazhar and The Good Lie, Falardeau returns to the antic, slightly goofy tone of It’s Not Me, I Swear! (C’est Pas Moi, Je Le Jure!) with this comedy about (fictional) Quebec MP Steve Guibord (Patrick Huard), who ends up holding the deciding vote on whether Canada should enter an unspecified war on the other side of the world.
To buy time, he announces he’ll consult his constituents, but they’re easily swayed by jingoism and pandering. It’s all seen through the eyes of his idealistic Haitian intern (Irdens Exantus), who tries to understand Steve’s hawkish wife (Suzanne Clément) and dovish daughter -(Clémence Dufresne-Deslières) as well.
It’s a sly comic farce with a great deal to say about retail politics, personal moral codes and – sadly – the ridiculous horse-trading required for someone in Steve’s position to even think about doing the right thing.