Comfort and Indifference

October, 1995. The most important political event in recent Canadian history, the Quebec vote on sovereignty, is about to unfold. During the tense days leading up to the referendum for independence, 23 filmmakers from the NFB's English and French documentary studios take their cameras into the streets and homes of Quebeckers. Culled from 250 hours of footage, Referendum is an emotional portrait of a profoundly divided society. In a collage of powerful moments, the video recaptures the emotions of that time and measures them against today's political agenda. Implicit is the question: What next? With English and French subtitles.

Ce film présente le point de vue personnel de son auteur sur le Québec, à l'occasion du référendum de mai 1980 sur la souveraineté-association. Couvrant les événements, le cinéaste sort la défaite référendaire du Parti québécois de son contexte local et la confronte au jugement de l'Histoire, en la soumettant au feu d'une critique acerbe sous la forme de citations extraites de l'oeuvre de Nicolas Machiavel (magnifiquement interprété par Jean-Pierre Ronfard). Un grand documentaire sur le Québec, et un éditorial cinématographique virulent se drapant, sous certains aspects, de certains éléments dramatiques non dénués d'emphase. Utilise du matériel de tournage des cinéastes suivants : Bernard Gosselin, Pierre Perrault, Tahani Rached, Gilles Groulx, Jacques Bensimon, Jacques Godbout, Guy L. Coté.

A long and thoughtful look at those desperate days of October 1970, when Montréal awaited the outcome of FLQ terrorist acts. This film puts the October Crisis in the long perspective of history. Compiled from news and other films, it shows independence movements past and present, and their leaders; it reflects the mingled relief, dismay, defiance, when the Canadian army came to Montréal; and it shows how political leaders viewed the intervention.