Review of Polytechnique

It is difficult to be able to speak/write about films like this that cover events to say the least dramatic and, given the indelible mark they leave in global history but especially the place where they occurred, important. Because if misunderstood you risk appearing disrespectful to those who have passed through their skin those certain tragic events; and the same is true for those who make them. However, after this premise, I will try to review this "Polytechnique", a film that had all the potential to be an unforgettable masterpiece but that is content to undoubtedly be a good film without excelling and exploiting all its potential. Definitely Villeneuve as a director does an excellent job that confirms once again his great skills that will then find their maximum splendor in his subsequent films, such as "Arrival", "Blade Runner 2049" and "Sicario"; with excellent shots and beautiful long shots, his direction proves to be mature, conscious and very clear, the black and white, here really beautiful, is then a touch of class. Needless to say, the film hits and excites, especially in the scenes in which the massacre takes place, with images, implicit and explicit, strong and difficult to absorb. We must admit, however, with the maximum respect possible, that a film with a true story of this type and this importance to the shoulders, can easily moves. It seems that this was also understood by Villeneuve himself and the writers that for the rest of the film, so all that comes before and after the massacre and not during, treat every aspect superficially, also because of an excessively short duration. A film that then leaves too little space and time to the true emotions of the characters, before and after the fact, and that then analyzes and explores the psychological aspect of the event in a too hastily way. The same figure of the murderer is not analyzed and characterized satisfactorily; his motivations, his person / figure, what made him get up to that point and that turned him into a killer, all this is addressed in a way that does not convince enough or while some of these aspects is not really considered . The same applies to the other protagonists of the film, they are very poorly characterized and this makes it impossible to identify with them the psychological impact suffered both during the massacre and afterwards too superficially. Very good, however, the melancholic soundtrack that seeks, together with the images, to create an intense and suggestive atmosphere, in this we say that it manages however remains an atmosphere too thin, easy to break, in fact we are easily distracted, and not manages to remain constant or incisive enough to remain even after the end of the film. Also for this reason the film, although objectively of excellent quality, at least technical, is too superficial and short, which makes it weak and easy to forget. Too bad because it could be a true masterpiece.