Suspicions and Castrations: Robert Morin's Que Dieu Benisse l'Amérique

Abstract

Que Dieu Bénisse l'Amérique, by Robert Morin, is a thriller set in a fictional Québec suburbia on September 11, 2001, in which a serial killer is targeting sexual predators. The plot highlights the rising fears and suspicions among the suburb's neighbors. The film draws a parallel between this story of paranoia and mistrust and the actual terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I argue that the film provides a sharp criticism of exacerbated individualism and attempts to dissociate Quebec society from American imperial destiny. The word Amérique in the French title holds a different meaning than the English America, pointing to a distinct Québécois perception of continental belonging.

Keywords:

• Quebec
• 9/11
• America
• suburbia
• terrorism

Notes

1. See also Boulet-Gercourt's article on Markert.

2. These streets actually exist in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.

3. The fabrication of the fake penis is the object of a detailed explanation in the accompanying bonus DVD track, featuring a wonderful wink of a short Making of film by Philippe Falardeau (unfortunately without subtitles), La Méthode Morin. Falardeau attemps to convince us (and may succeed for a time) that Que Dieu Bénisse l'Amérique was shot in one single day, as an exemplary filmic experiment. The improbabilities pile up until the trick becomes evident.

4. It is important to note that Québec does compile a register of sexual offenders. As it is the case elsewhere in Canada, such as in Ontario, where such registers exist, access is restricted to law enforcement. The intention of the law was precisely to prevent the type of vigilante action described here. In United States, however, following a Supreme Court decision on March 5, 2003, two years before the shooting of Morin's film, such registers are now public and easy to consult on the Internet. Therefore, Morin's fictional account of the parent association's actions would be legal in the United States, but not in Québec.

5. The concepts of collective violence, as well as scapegoat and Christian forgiveness, have been treated in depth by René Girard, who could be very relevant here. See for example Violence and the Sacred (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1979) or The Scapegoat (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1986).

6. Daudelin, Defoy and Tremblay all agree on this point.

7. US American has been suggested as the best of many possible alternatives.

8. It is after a massive anti-war demonstration in Montreal, on February 15, 2003, billed at the time as the biggest in history with 150,000 persons in attendance, that the Canadian government declined to participate in the Coalition of the Willing.

9. Many thanks to Christine Iaderosa and Gina Freitag for helping me prepare this manuscript in English.