Le déserteur (film)

Le déserteur
Directed by Simon Lavoie
Produced by Simon Lavoie
Written by Simon Lavoie (play)
Starring Émile Proulx-Cloutier,
Raymond Cloutier,
Danielle Proulx,
Viviane Audet,
Benoit Gouin,
Gilles Renaud
Release dates
2008
Running time
90 min
Country Canada
Language French

Le déserteur is a 2008 Quebec feature film directed by Simon Lavoie. The film stares Émile Proulx-Cloutier, Raymond Cloutier, Danielle Proulx, Viviane Audet, Benoit Gouin and Gilles Renaud.[1][2]

It tells the story of Georges Guénette, a deserter from the Canadian Army during World War II, who was shot and killed by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Background

Georges Guénette was a deserter from the Canadian Army and, like many French Canadians during World War II, an opponent of the war and conscription.

In May 1944, a few months after Guénette deserted from the army, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers found Guenette in his father's farmhouse, in St-Lambert-de-Lévis (near Quebec City). He jumped out of a window and ran across the fields. Guénette fell, wounded "by a ricocheting bullet," and died without the last rites of the church.[3]

Two RCMP officers were later charged with manslaughter in Guénette's death, and the shooting was an issue in the 1944 Quebec general election.[4]

References

  1. Kellt, Brendan (October 23, 2008). "Review: Le Deserteur". The Gazette. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  2. Demers, Maxime (December 19, 2007). "Georges Guénette, déserteur". Le Journal de Montréal (in French).
  3. Time, Monday, May 22, 1944 (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,796595,00.html)
  4. "The Week in Quebec". The Coaticook Observer. November 17, 1944. Retrieved 2008-10-25.