CANADA: Film casts a critical eye on universities

The film Les Invasions barbares, Denys Arcand's trenchant take on modern values, zeroed in on the sad state of Quebec's health system. Now another Québécois movie, Le Banquet, attempts a similar attack on the province's other great behemoth, the education system - specifically, the universities - writes Henry Aubin in The Gazette.

In terms of quality, Le Banquet, which opened last week, is a long way from the Les Invasions barbares, which won the Oscar as best foreign-language film in 2004. Nonetheless, this drama by Sébastien Rose, a 39-year-old Montrealer, is worth seeing for anyone interested in the perplexing state of our ivory towers.

The film, which comes to a violent climax, is about students, teachers and administrators at a fictitious Montreal university. It was shot in and around the Université du Québec à Montréal, though that university is never named. Rose clearly intends his views to apply to Quebec post-secondary education in general.
Full report on The Gazette site