Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis
Year: 1973
Language: English
Format: 16mm Colour
Runtime: 58 min
Director:
Robin Spry
Producer:
Normand Cloutier,
Tom Daly,
Robin Spry
Writer:
Robin Spry
Cinematographer:
Douglas Kiefer
Editor:
Joan Henson,
Shelagh MacKenzie
Sound:
Bernard Bordeleau
Production Company:
National Film Board of Canada
Reaction: A Portrait of a Society in Crisis was shot during the October Crisis of 1970, when FLQ terrorists kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and killed Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte. A journalistic tour-de-force photographed during the peak of the crisis, Reaction features people from various English-speaking groups in Quebec expressing their personal reactions. The film reflects the tense discussions of the time, providing a portrait of a minority community under pressure and of power on the defensive.
See also the film’s companion piece, Action: The October Crisis of 1970 (1973).