On paper, the very simple concept of the documentary series gave hope for a production that explores in an amusing and enriching way sections of the popular history of Quebec: disentangling the true from the false from “mysteries”, gossip, legends and characters greater than nature that got generations of villagers from all over Quebec talking. However, as is unfortunately often the case with the original productions of the Historia channel, Village Secretsanimated with enthusiasm by the comedian Luis Oliva, remains too often on the surface of the subjects that are approached there, too quickly, and offers a very limited historical perspective of these.
Perhaps this decision to address in each of the 22-minute episodes three stories that gave rise to fabrications and gossip in a given region is to be blamed. This breathless pace limits the number of speakers who can shed light on the origins of these stories of legendary proportions and leaves little room for historical analysis. Thus, in the first episode devoted to Estrie, once we have been told who Gérald Bull is, there is very little time left for his son, the main speaker in this segment, to detail the possible reasons for his murder in Europe. We remain on our hunger. Especially since the set does not overflow with visual and sound archives. Fortunately, certain “mysteries” clarified thanks to the generous explanations of “experts” interviewed, visibly passionate about their subject, compensate a little for those which remain unsolved, for which one may feel like doing one’s own research…
To see in video