The Film

Synopsis

Montcerf, the last village before Abitibi. The forest, the night, silence… twigs snap, big black boots make their way forward cautiously. The hunter on the hunt. With tenderness and simplicity, documentarian André-Line Beauparlant plunges into this world and paints the portrait of six hunters. Alternating between interviews and hunting sequences, the film overflows with breathtaking authenticity as it touches subjects such as love, death, and religion.

Director’s Statement

I had the idea for this project about seven years ago, when I couldn’t wander the woods because it was hunting season and it was too dangerous.

I had been frequenting the Haute-Gatineau region for twelve years, as I have a cabin in the woods of Montcerf. Pushed more by curiosity than by hunting itself, and by a desire to be like everyone else in the village (“When in Rome…”), I began to hunt, in order to follow the guys into the woods. I didn’t quite understand the hype, the excitement that came with the arrival of each fall season. I thought hunting was violent, even useless, just filling an immense and fundamental need to kill, to play at war. But as time went by and I began to get to know the hunters, I discovered a much more complex and unsettling universe than my first impressions allowed. The animal, the food, the trophy, the chase, the fear, and the alcohol all comes together. When they hunt, the hunters have time; they live in the present moment, far away from everyday life and worries. They focus on the hunt. The men are happy during this time of year because they finally relax. Hunting is also a tradition for them, and they don’t question if it’s right or wrong. It’s simply a part of their lifestyle. As for me, I don’t know if it’s good or bad either, but it doesn’t really matter. Hunting makes them face death, the death of their prey, but ultimately their own too, the men behind their guns.

Hunting allowed me to reach these men and try to understand their universe, to observe these individuals, almost all illiterate, but extremely knowledgeable when it comes to nature, the forest, and the animals that surround them. In their own way, they are each exceptional. They intrigue me, they scare me, and they surprise me. They have a violence, a quest, a passion that escapes me.

I also think that my interest for them is comes from Trois Princesses pour Roland. When I finally decided, during editing, not to include any men in the film, I knew I would need to make another film with only men. For me, Trois Princesses, is a film about mothers, about women. Le Petit Jésus is a film about family, and Panache is about fathers, about men. Still within the same working-class milieu, about people with little education and few words, but with absolutely stunning life stories, touching but also very disturbing. The same people but this time, in the country, in a rural setting. There is something about a man of few words that touches me. His solitude, his silence, all that is not-said, that he keeps hidden, troubles me, even shatters me. He is watching, hunting, wanting to surpass himself, defeat his fears, his isolation. It is by the size of the antlers, the ritual of measuring them, that he succeeds.

Credits

Writer and Director: André-Line Beauparlant
Director of Photography: Robert Morin
Picture Editor: Sophie Leblond
Sound Editor: Martin Allard
Producer: Danielle Leblanc, Coop Vidéo de Montréal

With the financial participation of
SODEC - Société de développement des entreprises culturelles — Québec, Québec — Canadian Film and Television Tax Credit Program — Gestion SODEC, The Canada Council for Arts, The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Canada —Canadian Film and Video Tax Credit Program, ONF/NFB- programme d’aide au cinéma indépendant canadien.

And in collaboration with
Télé-Québec

Canada, 2006, Documentary, 90 min; Digital Betacam and  35mm; Color; Original French Version