Trudeau (2002)
Director: Jerry Ciccoritti.
Starring: Colm Feore (Pierre Elliott Trudeau), Polly Shannon (Margaret Trudeau), Patrick McKenna (Duncan), Don McKellar (Greenbaum), Peter Outerbridge (Jim Coutts), Raymond Cloutier (Gérard Pelletier), Raymond Bouchard (Jean Marchand), Jean Marchand (Marc Lalonde), R.H. Thomson (Mitchell Sharp), Guy Richer (Jean Chretien), Luc Proulx (Rene Levesque), Geraint Wyn Davies (Premier William G. Davis), Eric Peterson (Tommy Douglas), John Neville (British High Commissioner).
political biography of the Prime Minister of Canada
Spoiler Warning: below is a summary of the entire film.
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Historical Background:
1918 -- Pierre Trudeau born in Montreal, Quebec. His father was a French Canadian businessman/lawyer and his mother was French-Scottish.
He had an older sister, Suzette, and a younger brother, Charles Jr.
in his teens -- his father had a prosperous gas station business and the family was quite wealthy.
Pierre attended the prestigious Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (a private French Jesuit). There he was a supporter of Quebec nationalism.
in his mid-teens -- his father died.
As usual, he was conscripted into the Canadian army as part of the National Resources Mobilization Act. He joined the Canadian Officers' Training Corps and served with other conscripts in Canada, as they were not liable for overseas military service until after the Conscription Crisis of 1944.
1942 -- in the Outremont by-election, he campaigns for the anti-conscription candidate Jean Drapeau (later mayor of Montreal). Trudeau is expelled from the Officers' Training Corps for lack of discipline.
1943 -- Trudeau earned a law degree at the Université de Montréal.
Trudeau says he would have served in WWII, but he believed the Mackenzie King government (1935-1948) had betrayed the Quebec population.
1949-1951 -- Trudeau works briefly in Ottawa, in the Privy Council Office of the Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent as an economic policy advisor.
1950s -- Trudeau is a leading figure in the opposition to the repressive rule of Premier of Quebec Maurice Duplessis. He helps found and is an of Cité Libre, a dissident journal that helps form the intellectual basis for the Quiet Revolution. Five of the FLQ terrorists were flown to Cuba in 1970 as part of a deal in exchange for James Cross's life, but all members were eventually arrested. The five flown to Cuba were jailed after they returned to Canada years laterFive of the FLQ terrorists were flown to Cuba in 1970 as part of a deal in exchange for James Cross's life, but all members were eventually arrested. The five flown to Cuba were jailed after they returned to Canada years later.
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