Pierre Falardeau

Pierre Falardeau (December 28, 1946 – September 25, 2009) was a Quebec film and documentary director, pamphleteer and noted activist for Quebec independence.

Profile

Falardeau studied anthropology at university and he taught that subject for a brief period. During the 1960s, he became involved in the pro-independence Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale, and his passionate belief in the need for the secession of the province of Quebec from Canada features prominently in most of his films. In the "Elvis Gratton" series; a sarcastic trilogy about a local Elvis impersonator, Falardeau sharply satirizes federalist Quebecers. This tendency is also seen in more serious efforts such as "Octobre", about the October crisis, 15 février 1839, about the quelling of the "Patriotes" movement which led to the Lower Canada Rebellion and "Le steak", about Quebec boxer Gaetan Hart.

Falardeau linked his support for Quebec independence to the struggles for national independence and decolonization movements abroad. That linkage, too, is a prominent part of his work, for instance in an unidentified documentary he prepared on political issues confronting the Algerian people.

Falardeau, who occasionally published in the Le Couac, an independent newspaper, often attracted media controversy. In 2002, he joined with Loco Locass to perform a song called "Yallah", which criticized pro-American sentiment resulting from the September 11 attacks. Upon the 2004 cancer death of Claude Ryan, a former provincial Liberal leader and minister who had led the "No" side in the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, Falardeau published a harsh critique in lieu of a eulogy in the sovereigntist journal Le Québécois. In 2005 he demonstrated on Canada Day in Quebec City against the celebration of what he called, a "colonizing power". More generally Falardeau had come under fire from critics for reportedly urging federalist anglophones to leave Quebec, for voicing support for military intervention to ensure that no portion of Quebec be allowed to secede from Quebec and remain with Canada in the event of a referendum majority for sovereignty, and for his ambiguous association with the MLNQ. However, Falardeau had repeatedly stated that he supported the mainstream Parti Québécois as the only viable party for realizing Quebec's independence.

With regard to minorities, Falardeau stated he did not care whether someone was white, black, yellow or green with orange polka dots; those who supported independence he considered brothers and sisters, and those who did not were "the enemy". This quote appears as a sound sample at the beginning of the studio recording of the song Résistance by Loco Locass.

Falardeau died on September 25, 2009, following a long battle with cancer.

He is the father of Jules Falardeau, another filmmaker, born 1985.

Style

Falardeau's rhetorical style was well known for mixing intellectual reflection with a deliberately working-class joual dialect which occasionally slips into coarse language. Partly because of this colourful speaking style, he was often sought after for on-air opinions by media outlets seeking sensationalist copy.

Controversy

Falardeau created some controversy during his career. For example, in 2006, a photograph surfaced of him at an August 2006 Montreal pro-peace rally about the Israel-Lebanon conflict. The picture shows Falardeau with some young men and his friend and filmmaking partner Julien Poulin holding a Hezbollah flag. When asked to comment, Falardeau responded that he approached the men to understand why they supported Hezbollah, and that the flag belonged to the young men. They explained to him that they had victims of the conflict in their family. He has stated that he did not condone the ways of the Hezbollah.

He also created controversy in October 2008 with a column denouncing biologist and environmentalist David Suzuki for having said he was disappointed in those Quebecers who supported the Conservative Party. Falardeau referred to Dr. Suzuki as un petit japanouille à barbiche (a little goateed Jap-noodle).

Les Humains

Les Humains is a song created by aKido in 1998 which featured samples from a speech Pierre Falardeau gave at Université Laval in Quebec.

Filmography

• Continuons le combat (1971)
• À mort (1972)
• Les Canadiens sont là (1973)
• Le Magra (1975)
• A Force de courage (1977)
• Pea Soup (1978)
• Speak White (1980)
• Elvis Gratton (1981)
• Les Vacances d'Elvis Gratton (1983)
• Pas encore Elvis Gratton (1985)
• Elvis Gratton, le king des kings (1985)
• Le Party (1989)
• Le Steak (1992)
• Le Temps des bouffons (1993)
• Octobre (1994)
• Elvis Gratton, président du comité des intellectuels pour le non (1995)
• Une minute pour l'indépendance (1995)
• Elvis Gratton 2 (Miracle à Memphis) (1999)
• 15 février 1839 (2001)
• Elvis Gratton XXX: La revanche d'Elvis Wong (2004)
• Bob Gratton : Ma Vie, My Life (2007-2009)