Beating the banned

>> Local documentary Les Ennemis du cinéma focuses on the history of film
censorship in Quebec

by MALCOLM FRASER

Considering Quebec’s not-too-distant past as a Catholic backwater, it’s not too surprising that back in the day, religious authorities made a concerted effort to suppress moving pictures and the sweeping tide of immorality well known to follow in their wake. Local Radio Canada documentarian Karl Parent shines a spotlight on Quebec’s censorious history in his new film Les Ennemis du cinéma.

In our anything-goes, porn-saturated era, we tend to regard movie censorship as a laughable, almost quaint relic, so it’s striking to be reminded of the Catholic Church’s past power and influence. As the film recalls, at the height of the authoritarian Duplessis era, there was one priest for every 150 laypeople in Quebec, and the Church’s whims kept the Québécois people isolated from global culture. When psychoanalyst André Lussier recalls organizing a screening of the popular 1945 French film Les Enfants du paradis, then having it blocked by the authorities at the last minute, his anger is palpable even today; the inevitability of the Quiet Revolution was never illustrated so concisely.

As the film progresses into the contemporary era, Parent expands his focus to other forms of censorship. NFB veterans recall how the Film Board suppressed its own films, for fear of offending corporate bigwigs (as with Denys Arcand’s cotton-industry documentary On est au coton) or to avoid stirring up political controversy (as with Gilles Groulx’s radical 24 heures ou plus). The film ends on a cautious note, reminding us that while religious censorship may be a thing of the past, there are still threats to free speech from political correctness, corporate power and widespread fear of the Internet’s influence on younger generations.

Thought-provoking and full of interesting facts, Les Ennemis du cinéma is marred only by some cheap editing effects that should have been censored themselves. Also, at 52 minutes, it sometimes feels a bit rushed. Perhaps to compensate, the Cinéma du Parc is holding discussions at each screening, with various filmmakers and historians making appearances. At the screening I attended, a woman in the audience blithely remarked that we’re doing better today because we censor for the right reasons—another reminder that the battle against censorship, and the fundamental stupidity behind it, is never over.

Les Ennemis du cinéma opens at the
Cinéma du Parc this Friday, Feb. 29

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