Ask yourself when was the last time you saw a Canadian film. A long time ago, you say? When was the last time you saw one? Speaking French a film from Canada? This has probably never happened before – well, it’s about time, because Survival is both timely and damn exciting in all its simplicity.

Screenwriter Charles Dionne and director Patrice Laliberté didn’t know much about the global coronavirus crisis when they made the film. Survival (Until the decline) in the heart of French-speaking Canada, Quebec. With the current social situation, the film (tragically) couldn’t be more relevant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc4SrtApxxA

We’ve probably all been there while channel-hopping on YouTube late at night. Regular jesters presenting survival videos on how to overcome a destructive event such as economic collapse (read: financial crisis x10), unexpected military attack (from Russia), satanic immigrants, government collapse democratic (or, God forbid!, that they will take away your constitutional automatic weapons), an environmental disaster or – a global viral pandemic that destroys the society we live in and trust to take care of us.

When we see the “tough” rednecks with bazookas on their backs and automatic weapons on their shoulders who protest the closure of Korna in the United States (or as Trump would call them: “There are very good people on both sides!”), then these are exactly the kind of people who watch the survival videos of Alain (Réal Bossé), the main character of Survival. As they proudly pat each other on the back (trust us, no little hugs here in the yard) and confidently say to each other: “I told you!”.

In the metropolis of Montreal, we quickly meet the family of the toddler’s father, Antoine (Guillaume Laurin), a seemingly “normal” family, but too concerned with how to store large stocks of rice and canned goods. and weapons. He is a father who wakes up the children in the middle of the night to practice evacuation and whose great role model is the survival guru Alain. Then he suddenly has the opportunity to attend a “survival camp” with “God” himself.

Survival is proof that you don’t need $100 million to make a gripping thriller, nor do you need Leonardo DiCaprio or Will Smith on the payroll. We meet a group of relatively average people, all of whom are firmly convinced that disaster lies around the corner and that the government cannot be trusted at all. We are not hero sure, but I doubt these guys will be first in line when the vaccination program is to be carried out in primary school.

In the middle of the vast Canadian wilderness, they arrive at Alain’s “fort”. With his 2,000-acre estate and countless security measures, including pipe bombs, booby traps and fully automatic weapons, Alain is prepared for the worst. Now he has to toughen up a group of townspeople to adopt the same attitude – but then everything goes to hell.

While the survival program unfolds next to good advice becomes expensive. As in the purest Lord of the Flies the gang disintegrates internally, conspiring against each other and thinking of their own own survival.

Charles Dionne has written a particularly authentic screenplay that draws you into the tension, and director Laliberté takes us on an almost documentary journey to the land of terrifying but oh-so-fascinating rednecks. Exciting, authentic and extremely well acted.

The decline (Photo: Netflix)

However, not all character choices and actions are equally valid. Survival is a solid “independent” film that found itself under the umbrella of giant Netflix. Great photography and clips enhance the overall impression, and the short length of the film is actually not a drawback.

More of these Netflix movies and we’ll be a perpetual subscriber. 4 solid stars for the triumph of Canadian enthusiasm.

Survival

Facts:

• Netflix
• Release: March 27, 2020
• Director: Patrice Laliberté
• With: Marc Beaupré, Réal Bossé, Marie-Evelyne Lessard, Marilyn Castonguay, Marc-André Grondin, Guillaume Cyr, Isabelle Giroux, Guillaume Laurin, Juliette Maxyme Proulx
• Genre: Thriller
• Country: Canada
• Year: 2020
• Duration: 1h23.
• Level 4