I have said this before: I often find myself writing about Quebec matters in English, because I feel like telling non-francophones about what goes on here.
Traditionally, St. Lawrence Boulevard – a few blocks from my house – has been thought of as the dividing line between English and French Montreal, with the francophones living mainly in the East. Although a huge simplification, this notion still bears some truth.
And well East of that line there is a fantastic neighbourhood cinema called the Beaubien that attracts people from many other parts of town. It usually mixes in documentaries with its mainstay of independent – or at least creatively interesting – fiction.
Screening right now at the Beaubien is Godin, a very good documentary by Simon Beaulieu about Quebec poet and politician Gérald Godin. It takes us back to the heady days when the independence movement in Quebec was on the march, winning a provincial election in 1976 and losing a referendum with a very close margin in 1995. The film seems to have struck a chord. The day I was there, the theatre was full for a 1.30 pm screening!
Godin was an irreverent poet who loved the good life. He lived for thirty years with one of my favourite singers, the passionate Pauline Julien – I was honoured that she accepted to narrate the French version of one of my films, Uranium. In 1988 Dorothy Todd-Hénault made a very good NFB film about the couple: Quebec… un peu… beaucoup… passionnément….
Godin was a tremendously open-minded and inspired politician who once famously defeated then premier Robert Bourassa in the riding of Mercier where I live. Although he was a Quebec nationalist who fought for independence, Godin was intensely interested in the cultural and linguistic minorities, and actually got a lot of immigrants to vote for the Parti Québecois.
He liked to de-dramatize the linguistic conflicts here. I remember him giving a bilingual TV interview in a local grocery store, saying, “Potato–patate, tomato-tomate, orange-orange – Quel est le problème? What’s the problem?” But of course he did support the protection and promotion of the French language.
Godin became Quebec’s Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities under René Levesque, at a time when Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister of Canada. As I left the screening, I heard a white-haired lady say: “Today’s politicians are sorry sight, compared to those days.”
The most touching part of the film deals with Godin’s illness – a brain tumour severely slowed him down and eventually killed him at age 56. We see him in archival footage still doing his best to represent his constituency during the last years, half his head shaven, and saying in essence, “When you’re seriously ill, you have to pack a lot in, because you know there isn’t much time left.”
Thanks to Tobi Elliott for help with this blog.