CORBO

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A film by Mathieu DENIS
2014 – Canada – Historical Drama – 119'
 

SYNOPSIS Montréal, spring 1966. In a province undergoing profound change, Jean Corbo, an idealistic 16-year-old with a Québécois mother and a father of Italian descent, is torn between two identities. Befriended by Julie and François, two young left-wing activists, he joins a clandestine group determined to use violence to trigger a socialist revolution in the province. This group is the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). Unbeknownst to his family, Jean takes part in the FLQ’s activities that spring, even as he continues to attend a private school. His involvement in the movement is peripheral at first – he is asked to hand out The Ax, the FLQ newspaper, in his school. Jean takes this task seriously, feeling more and more drawn to the radical rhetoric of the FLQ leaders. Soon, he and his comrades François and Julie are taking part in night-time activities, covering the walls of factories on strike with graffiti proclaiming the existence of the terrorist movement to the world. After they attend a training camp where FLQ members are taught to handle weapons and make explosive devices, Jean, Julie and François are entrusted with a more serious mission. They are asked to plant a bomb near a striking Montréal factory. Jean, who wants to play a bigger role in the movement, unhesitatingly accepts his mission. But, one after the other, François and Julie pull out. On July 14, 1966, Jean is dropped off in the Saint-Henri district of Montréal, a few blocks from the Dominion Textile plant, the target for the planned attack. In the young man’s hands are a few kilograms of dynamite. Alone, Jean walks inexorably toward his fate.