Reviewing Movies

It is a sad truth that one does not associate the term CBC with great movies, in fact Canadian Movie is often a pejorative term for low production values or second rate. It is also a fact of life that the most successful movies in Canada are produced and screened in Quebec where the language barrier serves to insulate them from the juggernaut that is Hollywood. Recent examples include “Bon Cop Bad Cop” and the present movie which were wildly popular in La Belle Province and virtually unknown in the rest of Canada.

If I have to tell you who Maurice The Rocket Richard was then don’t bother reading any further. However it was my admiration for Roy Dupuis, who plays him, that was the deciding factor in my picking up this movie. Who else to play a great French Canadian but a great French-Speaking actor, albeit one born in the Northern Ontario town of New Liskard? Again, if not for his work on La Femme Nakita, he’s unknown in the English world.

This then is a movie shot in Quebecois Dialect and dubbed into English. One other quirk; after the opening warnings and proprietary images we arrive at a screen back-grounded by music that reads:

MAURICE RICHARD THE ROCKET

It is left to the viewer to figure out that by clicking on Maurice Richard we get the presentation that follows ‘en francais’; and by clicking on The Rocket, we get it in English. This DVD does not have the kind of language settings dialogue to which this viewer is accustomed.

I’m not qualified to comment on how well the game of hockey is portrayed here but I’ll edit this later to add comments after I’ve finished watching the movie.