''24 heures ou plus'' (also written as ''24 heures ou plus...'' or ''Vingt-quatre heures ou plus...'') is a radical political documentary about Quebec society, shot in 1971 and completed by director by

Gilles Groulx Gilles Groulx (August 30, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec – August 22, 1994) was a Canadian film director. He grew up in a working-class family with 14 children. After studying business in school, he went to work in an office but found the white-co ...

by mid-January 1973. However, the film was initially suppressed by producer

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

and not released until February 1977.

Synopsis

A Marxist critique of the capitalist system, Gilles Groulx filmed Quebec society as he saw it in the fall of 1971. Shot only a year after the events of October 1970, while Quebec was still in turmoil, the film denounces the alienation of the masses and exalts the optimistic progressives who want to awaken the people of Quebec to their cultural and political oppression. Alternating between colour and black and white, the film combines actuality footage, graffiti, didactic texts, live sequences, various interviews, newspaper articles and television extracts, edited into a structure whose form and commentary offer both an analysis of society and the necessity and hope of social change. The political analysis made by Groulx and the political scientist/narrator Jean-Marc Piotte testifies to an unequivocal desire to make a real film of confrontation.

Production and release

The film was originally titled ''1461 jours'', but was changed to ''24 heures ou plus '' following a call for a twenty-four hour general strike by unions in Quebec.

Commissioner

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

halted production on the movie and made efforts to prevent bootleg recordings from spreading. In 1973,

stated that he would not alter the film. The NFB's Board of Governors considered suing him for violating his contract, but chose not to. The film was officially cancelled in June 1973, and Groulx offered to buy its rights, but was denied. The ban was lifted in 1976. The film received a "for all" rating from the on February 8, 1977, and was shown for the first time on February 10 at the

Cinémathèque québécoise The Cinémathèque québécoise is a film conservatory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its purpose is to preserve, document, film and television footage and related documents and artifacts for future use by the public. The Cinémathèque's collectio ...

References

Works cited

External links

* (in French) (requires

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) *{{IMDb title, 0237998 1977 films Films directed by Gilles Groulx National Film Board of Canada documentaries Documentary films about Quebec politics Documentary films about revolutions Marxist works 1970s Canadian films