''The Trotsky'' is a 2009 Canadian

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed and written by Jacob Tierney and starring

Jay Baruchel Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the '' How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...

Emily Hampshire Emily Hampshire (born 1979) is a Canadian actress. Her best known roles include Angelina in the 1998 romantic comedy '' Boy Meets Girl'', Vivienne in the 2006 film '' Snow Cake'', Jennifer Goines in the Syfy drama series '' 12 Monkeys'' (2015� ...

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

Saul Rubinek Saul Hersh Rubinek (born July 2, 1948) is a German-born Canadian actor, director, producer, and playwright. He is widely known for his television roles, notably Artie Nielsen on ''Warehouse 13,'' Donny Douglas on ''Frasier'', Lon Cohen on ''A N ...

, and

Michael Murphy Michael, Mick, or Mike Murphy may refer to: Artists and entertainers * Michael Murphy (actor) (born 1938), American actor * Mike Murphy (musician) (1946–2006), American drummer for the Bee Gees and Chicago * Michael Bryan Murphy, lead singer ...

Plot

High School student Leon Bronstein believes that he is the reincarnation of the socialist revolutionary

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

, whose birth name was Bronstein. Shortly after he starts to work in his family's clothing factory, he attempts to unionize the workplace with such actions as a hunger strike. He is pulled from his upper-class private school by his father and sent to the public school system. The school is run by the strong-willed principal Mr. Berkhoff and overly disiplinarian vice-principal Mrs. Davis. On the first day on school Leon witnesses given students detentions for minor offences. After school he joins the detained students in solidarity. Meanwhile, he seeks romance with an older law school graduate student, Alexandra.

Cast

as Leon Bronstein, a 17-year-old high school student *

Domini Blythe Domini Blythe (August 28, 1947 – December 15, 2010) was a British-born Canadian actress. Her numerous stage, film and television credits included ''Search for Tomorrow'', ''External Affairs'', '' The Wars'', '' Savage Messiah'', '' Montreal Sto ...

as Mrs. Davis, Leon's vice-principal *

Geneviève Bujold Geneviève Bujold (; born July 1, 1942) is a Canadian actress. For her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the period drama film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), Bujold received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film cre ...

as Denise Archambault * Anne-Marie Cadieux as Anna Bronstein, Leon's loving stepmother *

Jesse Camacho Jesse Camacho (born May 29, 1991) is a Canadian film and television actor, best known for his role as Sheldon Blecher in the television series ''Less Than Kind''.Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...

as Principal Henry Berkhoff *

as Alexandra Leith, new law school graduate, Leon's (eventual) 27-year-old girlfriend *

David Julian Hirsh David Julian Hirsh (born October 26, 1973) is a Canadian actor. Early life Born and raised in a Jewish family in Montreal, Hirsh majored in criminology at the University of Toronto. He originally planned to become a lawyer until a summer acting ...

as Eli, Leon's married brother *

Tiio Horn Kaniehtiio Alexandra Jessie Horn (''née'' Batt; ; born November 8, 1986), sometimes credited to as Tiio Horn, is a Canadian actress. She was nominated for a Gemini Award for her role in the television film '' Moccasin Flats: Redemption'' and she ...

as Caroline, Leon's school friend * Ricky Mabe as Tony, Leon's school friend *

as Frank McGovern *

Jessica Paré Jessica Paré (born December 5, 1980) is a Canadian actress and singer known for her co-starring roles on the AMC series ''Mad Men'' and the CBS series '' SEAL Team''. She has also appeared in the films ''Stardom'' (2000), '' Lost and Delirious'' ...

as Laura, Alexandra's friend * Tommie-Amber Pirie as Sarah Bronstein, Leon's younger sister *

as David Bronstein, Leon's father As part of the plot,

Ben Mulroney Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he ...

plays himself, the host of '' etalk'', interviewing "Leon Bronstein".

Production

Shooting for the film began in Montreal on 27 August 2008 at Lakeside Academy.

Release

The film was first previewed at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

11 September 2009. In the United States, it was screened at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

. Its general Canadian release was on 14 May 2010.

Reception

Critical response

''The Trotsky'' received mostly favorable reviews from critics. The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'' gave ''The Trotsky'' a positive review, particularly of the cast. Another positive review from Montreal's '' The Gazette'' noted the "inspired, often-dangerously-funny screenplay" of the "too-talented" Tierney, likening the film to ''

Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer ...

''. On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a rating of 79% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10.

Box office

''The Trotsky'' grossed $440,000, against a production budget of C$6.4 million.

References

External links

* *
''The Trotsky''
at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trotsky 2009 films 2009 comedy films English-language Canadian films Canadian political comedy films Cultural depictions of Leon Trotsky Films about communism Films directed by Jacob Tierney Films set in Montreal Films shot in Montreal 2000s English-language films 2000s Canadian films