Often perceived as entertainment, an escape, isn’t cinema also a philosophical space that invites us to reinvent the city? Throughout the summer, The duty gives the floor to philosophers to comment on a Quebec film of their choice. This week, Republic. A popular primer (2011), by Hugo Latulippe.
We were at the time of Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, the vast citizen fight against the development of the shale gas sector, and shortly before the wave of the Maple Spring. In short, in the early 2010s, something was booming everywhere, including in Quebec, and filmmaker Hugo Latulippe (Bacon the movie, Alpheus stars, Serial manifestos, I lift myself up) wanted to take the pulse of the present time, while looking to the future.
This exercise, he was not going to do it alone, inviting several interlocutors nicknamed “the sentinels”, women and men embodying a “positive left”, ready to defend their convictions, and their findings, in front of his camera. 21 days of filming and 150 hours of discussions enabled the creation of Republic. A popular primer (2011), an array of thinkers, activists, politicians, trade unionists, artists and scholars who speak eloquently, analytically and playfully about our society — no one can forget the flamboyant laughter of director Brigitte Haentjens. From Gérald Larose to Francine Pelletier, from Amir Khadir to Christian Vanasse, and from Françoise David to Guy Rocher, everyone speaks freely about what worries them and what fuels their hopes.
“The alphabet is a source”, said Victor Hugo. This is why this cinematographic primer offers 26 words as so many inspiring keys allowing us to better understand our world, and to learn how to make the necessary tools to make it fairer, more open, and rich in the talent and imagination of all its citizens. Faced with this fine menu of ideas, and to shed new light, Véronique Grenier, professor of philosophy at the Cégep de Sherbrooke, essayist (On the run. An exploration of our daily fatigue) and poet (Park notebook, chenus, Hiroshimoi).
When did you see Republic for the first time, and what did you think of it?
On TV, in my living room… and in the middle of Maple Spring. I remember this time very well, when I had been teaching since 2009. The Estrie region and my CEGEP were very involved in this movement, as was I, present on the picket lines in the morning, going to demonstrations in the evening, including in Montreal, and writing several texts. This is where I discovered the power of words: naming what is feels good.
This film had the effect of a bomb on me. I reviewed it several times, and I presented it to my students, in whole or in part. At the time, I saw it as a real springboard for reflection, and it caused a great clash of ideas. I think back to the observations of Serge Bouchard (“A Canadian Tire fascinates me historically. […] Millions of years to get to mow the lawn and love it, buy yourself a mower, and it makes you happy. “) and my discovery of Yvon Rivard, which I started to read after seeing Republic. What a pleasure to hear him quote Hermann Broch [romancier autrichien, 1886-1951] “The absolute evil is fixity. Staying too long in a truth becomes an error. »
Did you feel the same shock seeing him again a decade later?
What discouraged me a little was to see that the issues addressed are always the same, or even worse! We just have to think about the environmental issue, or that of public health prevention. With the arrival of COVID-19, talk about this takes on new meaning. Because prevention seems a bit abstract; you have to constrain yourself, restrict yourself, and the benefits will come later. This highlights the stakes of abstraction. How to consider the possible, or be able to take risks? For many individuals, this remains very complex.
Does presenting all these ideas in primer form make them easier to grasp?
This underlines the importance of words, because they are not just words: they have power. Hugo Latulippe seems to say that with the words we use to talk about our society, we must also be able to project ourselves into it. As a professor of philosophy, I adopt the same posture by giving clear definitions to the concepts with which I work, by ensuring that these definitions are adequate and common. Afterwards, it is necessary to decide between a fact and an opinion, and to see on what one and the other are based.
Do you feel that this documentary is only for converts, it’si.e. people on the left?
For people on the right, the state of mind in which they approach the film is important. If it is within the framework of a course, I underline the presence of the ideas of the left, but I will also present their equivalent of the right; it’s less confrontational. And above all, I avoid saying that one idea is preferable to another. This film is a real buffet. Everyone can go for something that will take them further. Perhaps no great revolutions, because we don’t always need them for ideas to make their way.
The other great value of the film is its consistency. We find several personalities from different backgrounds, and the majority have continued to participate in the public debate. The filmmaker’s choices weren’t completely arbitrary; they are strong voices with relevant words. Someone like Serge Bouchard also makes it possible to understand that we can reflect on the small things of everyday life, and that it is important to do so. In my own writing, everyday life lives in me a lot, and I know that it is shared by many people. I have understood for a long time that the “I” dissolves: it is not me that people see, but the resonance with them. In Republicthe “I” of the protagonists is very strong, and it allowed a lot of echo.
Is cinema or can it be a philosophical space?
Always ! No matter the movie, even Marvel! Because it is the human being who is staged. My children have developed their thinking in front of the films in the series Star Wars, questioning the relationships between the characters, the ethical dilemmas, etc. It is not for nothing that cinema is so interesting to use in the classroom: it is clear, crisp and precise representations of different values and various issues. Some people may have more difficulty with abstraction, and many students consistently argue using examples. For them, it then becomes easy to understand concepts like freedom or Plato’s allegory of the cave. A discussion around a film also makes it possible to depersonalize the debate and to hear a multiplicity of arguments.
I sometimes say to my students: if philosophy allows you to better persist with your parents, that’s already a lot. Teaching philosophy is a privilege… which comes with its share of constraints. We must justify our relevance to each course, whereas today more than ever, we need these tools. Ethical issues, we will live our whole “cursed” life. We are left alone in reality, so we have to train individuals aware that they have the resources to answer certain questions, to go to the right sources. Because there will always be plenty of people to tell us what is good for us, but that makes us even more vulnerable…
Republic. A popular primerby Hugo Latulippe, is available for free on YouTube.