"The Trotsky"

[Taikand]

Leon Bronstein is not your average Montreal West high school student. For one thing, none of his peers can claim to be the reincarnation of early 20th century Soviet iconoclast and Red Army hero, Leon Trotsky. When his father sends Leon to public school as punishment for starting a hunger strike at Papa's clothing factory, Leon quickly lends new meaning to the term 'student union', determined as he is to live out his pre-ordained destiny to the fullest and change the world.

I find the idea amusing, I haven't watched the movie.
What do you think?

You can find the trailer on youtube.

[Dimentio]

Sounds like a joke movie.

[Vendetta]

HtU7ERJ3cTw

Looks pretty interesting, though if he thinks he's the reincarnation of Trotsky, he's got some problems up in the head. ;)

[Tyrlop]

he has same style as me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iglQIkg7t28&feature=related

[Dimentio]

Well, guess its better to be a reincarnation of Leon Trotsky than to just be like everyone else and be a reincarnation of Napoleon.

[Tyrlop]

Well, guess its better to be a reincarnation of Leon Trotsky than to just be like everyone else and be a reincarnation of Napoleon.
but its still better to be a reincarnation of Stalin.

[Rusty Shackleford]

he better be icepick proof if he wants to be just like trotsky.

edit: well if the guy who wrote it wwas a former trotskyist it might be worth watching instead of it just being some shitty hollywood school rebel movie. and its made in canada so it cant really be a hollywood school rebel movie.

[eyedrop]

he better be icepick proof if he wants to be just like trotsky.

He could wear one of those masks, that Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes, wore to insure that Hobbes couldn't find the back of his head.

http://lesinge.org/ch/90/ch901023.gif




http://lesinge.org/ch/90/ch901024.gif



http://lesinge.org/ch/90/ch901025.gif

Assuming Trotsky was picked in the back of the head obviously.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Oh, isn't starry-eyed idealism so cute?

[jake williams]

edit: well if the guy who wrote it wwas a former trotskyist it might be worth watching instead of it just being some shitty hollywood school rebel movie. and its made in canada so it cant really be a hollywood school rebel movie.
I'm pretty sure he was.

It's actually a pretty enjoyable movie. It's very much a hometown flick, and sure, it's not 100% serious - it's not a fucking documentary - but it actually deals with some real sorts of issues, and it's funny. Folks'd really do well to get a sense of humour.

[Foldered]

There's already a thread for this in Literature & Films.

Summing up my feelings:
This film doesn't deal with real issues; it's a way of capitalizing off of the left being a trend, and it's a way of keeping up with the notion that leftism, and idealism, is only sprouted from teenage angst. That it doesn't apply to the "real world," nor is socialism necessary. That's damaging, not funny and cute.

[jake williams]

This film doesn't deal with real issues
Sure it does (even if it deals with them in a way which is often comical): the social isolation being a radical often entails, the struggles of organizing in populations that don't necessarily interested in what you're doing, the fact that often organization fails, it deals with people who used to be radicals and who have given up and gone to work as McGill professors - it deals with lots of real issues.


it's a way of capitalizing off of the left being a trend
I wish the left - especially that part of it with any connection to the Russian Revolution - were a trend.


and it's a way of keeping up with the notion that leftism and idealism, is only sprouted from teenage angst.
No it doesn't - not only are there characters in the film who are supportive of both the title character's short term and long term goals, but even the teenagers are not necessarily motivated by "teenage angst". Overall, I feel like a lot of reaction to this film isn't because it's a right wing or an apolitical film, but because people are anti-teenager chauvinists who assume that if teenagers are the motivating forces behind a political action, it can't be a serious or meaningful one.


That it doesn't apply to the "real world"
The main problem I had with the film is that Montreal has an active and organized student movement which would have eagerly supported unionizing a high school, and would've given at least token support to the solidarity strikes he asked for, and none of that was gone into. Really - that's the main problem with the film. But even that was implicitly explained by the fact that the francophone community, where most of the organization is, often doesn't really get involved in anglophone struggles, for complex reasons (something I'm personally involved in pretty directly).


nor is socialism necessary.
Tierney has pointed out in several interviews that he'd originally written it as a much more explicitly political, ie. preachy, film, and he decided that wasn't the sort of film he wanted to make. I think he's probably write, had the same people tried to produce a preachy film it probably would be a shitty film, instead of a pretty lighthearted, enjoyable one which nonetheless deals with real issues facing political organizers.


That's damaging, not funny and cute.
The film is funny and cute.

[Foldered]

Sure it does (even if it deals with them in a way which is often comical): the social isolation being a radical often entails, the struggles of organizing in populations that don't necessarily interested in what you're doing, the fact that often organization fails, it deals with people who used to be radicals and who have given up and gone to work as McGill professors - it deals with lots of real issues.
I highly doubt they frame the giving up of radicalism as a problem in the film.



I wish the left - especially that part of it with any connection to the Russian Revolution - were a trend.
Kitsch?
http://snowflakesinhell.com/blogpics/create-a-commie.jpg




Overall, I feel like a lot of reaction to this film isn't because it's a right wing or an apolitical film, but because people are anti-teenager chauvinists who assume that if teenagers are the motivating forces behind a political action, it can't be a serious or meaningful one.
It's about a kid who is delusional and thinks he's a reincarnation of Trotsky; he "liberates" a clothing factory that had decent conditions beforehand (they make a point of this). This is poking fun at the left, whether "The Trotsky" is a teenager, or an adult. This whole narrative could have taken place with a 30-something main character and it would still be ridiculous.
And I'm not "anti-teenager" because I think this movie is a mockery of a serious movement.






Tierney has pointed out in several interviews that he'd originally written it as a much more explicitly political, ie. preachy, film, and he decided that wasn't the sort of film he wanted to make. I think he's probably write, had the same people tried to produce a preachy film it probably would be a shitty film, instead of a pretty lighthearted, enjoyable one which nonetheless deals with real issues facing political organizers.
http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=1736025&postcount=32



The film is funny and cute.
I find debasing the left into a delusional individual who thinks he is a reincarnated Trotsky damaging, you find it funny and cute. I guess we'll have to disagree on this.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

How was Trotsky an "iconoclast"? Hurray for using words out of context.

[Lyev]

This film seems like such a bag of shit. It's insulting and embarrassing, both simultaneously. Why on earth did he have to choose poor old Leon? :( *massive cringe*

[Rusty Shackleford]

i havent seen it but i probably will if i ever have enough money to blow, and its playing in my area.
i dont expect it to be politically motivating for the masses but i can imagine it would be a decent movie to watch.

next there should be a reincarnation of stalin. i wonder how that'd work out.

[RHIZOMES]

HtU7ERJ3cTw

Looks pretty interesting, though if he thinks he's the reincarnation of Trotsky, he's got some problems up in the head. ;)

And no material analysis at all. He's got the same name as Trotsky that means his life will be exactly the same!!

[Os Cangaceiros]

LOL, now there's a criticism you don't hear everyday.

"Yeah man, it was a pretty good movie...I really wish that they'd have put more material analysis in it, though."

[Chambered Word]

If he doesn't get icepicked at the end it's kind of a shit movie.

[RHIZOMES]

LOL, now there's a criticism you don't hear everyday.

"Yeah man, it was a pretty good movie...I really wish that they'd have put more material analysis in it, though."

Not so much the movie as the character. I mean, if he wants to be a reincarnation of Trotsky he's probably read up on Marxism, but if he's read up on Marxism he would have read about the materialist understanding of history which sort of precludes the notion that you'll have a life exactly like a guy with the same name as you from a far-off country 100 years ago.

[Honggweilo]

he has same style as me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iglQIkg7t28&feature=related

Haha, oh wow, what a stereotype :laugh: