Maurice Richard The Rocket is a 2005 film about a famous hockey player from Québec. M. Richard was a quiet man with an extraordinary skill who was passionate about hockey and about the injustice prevalent at the time in the National Hockey League. I enjoyed this movie although some of the facts have been changed or omitted in the interest of keeping it a 2 hour movie.
There was an emphasis on how much the Rocket Riot influenced the Québecois nationalist spirit. I think that is true and I’m glad the movie pointed it out. I would have liked more of that but, again, I recognize that the background and history necessary is very complicated and couldn’t be done in a movie about the Rocket. There might have been more about it in the special features, though.
Of course, I didn’t live through those times and neither did I grow up in Québec (although I sometimes wish I had). So I can’t really say I’m in the know. I’m lucky and unlucky to have had a foot in the English Canada solitude and a few toes in French Canada. Sometimes it provides me with a great vantage point. I think League president Clarence Campbell was a bigot and a jerk although the Rocket could also be the bad guy (something not exactly evident in this idolizing movie).
Still it’s a worthwhile movie IMHO and a good start to learning about the history of Québec and Canada.
Golbing 