Following up on his directorial debut Clandestinsoabout desperate refugees seeking passage to a new life as stowaways on a container shipoDenis Chouinard created this taut drama about immigrants after they have arrived on Canada’s shores. Ahmed Kasmi and his family fled Algeria and he is now only a week away from getting his Canadian citizenship. Ahmed’s teenage son Hafid, who is secretly a member of a group of militants, breaks into the immigration office and deletes computer files. Captured by security cameras, the act is broadcast throughout the country on the nightly news, just as Ahmed is practising ‘O Canada’ in his living room. Crushed by the stupid actions of his wayward son, he heads into the streets of Montreal, where he discovers an entire underworld of radical activism and militancy that he never knew existed.
Canada, 2001. English subtitles. Colour. Dolby digital stereo. 108 mins.