Miron : a Man Returned From Outside the World

Miron : un homme revenu d'en dehors du monde

Simon Beaulieu
Canada | 2014 | 75 min
Language : French
Subtitle : English

The Quebec of the second half of the 20th Century is shown in images from the archives of the National Film Board of Canada, and in the voice of a charismatic poet and politician. A fascinating poetic-cinematic essay which, after a literary introduction, is revealed to be a real political pamphlet, today unavoidably borrowing of nostalgia and the bitter taste of defeat. A ‘chanson de geste’ from Quebec!

Gaston Miron is one of the great Canadian poets of the 20th century. His inspired poems accompany the political and social adventure of Quebec while also addressing the essential question of identity, not experienced from the strict perspective of exclusion, but rather from that of difference, a true guarantee of the wealth of human experience. Miron : un homme revenu d’en dehors du monde pays tribute to him,  recounting  50 years of life in Quebec through a montage of magnificent images from the archives of the National Film Board of Canada, and the charismatic voice of the poet. Miron, who, like other Quebec intellectuals, was imprisoned for having stood up for his ideas, said: “Men, remember yourselves from other days”. This film does so, by revealing itself after a literary introduction, as a striking political pamphlet, now unavoidably owing much to nostalgia and the bitter taste of defeat. By following a formal device that closely resembles the films of Chris Marker (notably Le Fond de l’air est rouge), it is a real “chanson de gestefrom Quebec!
Luciano Barisone

Trailer