The Rocket (2007)

The full title of this (as released in the US) is: "The Rocket: The Legend of Rocket Richard." It is about the life of French-Canadian Maurice Richard, the famous hockey player from the 1940s-1960s (who looks just like my French-Canadian Grandfather.)  Even though I am French-Canadian I know little to nothing about hockey and wanted to learn more about it and its impact in Canadian (especially Quebecois) society. Richard overcame a typical 1920s-1930s French-Canadian up-bringing of a large, poor family to become one of the greatest, if not the greatest, hockey player ever (Canadian or American.) Roy Depuis plays Richard and does a great job. He not only looks like Richard, but also plays hockey as close to Richard as  can be done.

Richard played for the Montreal Canadiens and not only strove to become a great hockey player, but also worked to end the discrimination of French-Canadians by the majority English-Canadians (even in Quebec Province.) Until the late 1960s every aspect of life inside Quebec as well as the rest of Canada was done solely in English. Anyone, including Richard, who tried to overcome this overt discrimination was met with obstacles at every step, but it was because of the "early fighters" that the Quiet Revolution and a bilingual Canada came about that changed all of Canada forever.

The film, which is originally in French, but I saw the dubbed English version (I'm not sure if the actors themselves provided the English dialogue or if it were random voiceovers.) It had a well-balanced cast that, while not widely-known did a great job to bring the historical people to life.

One aspect of Richard's life that was portrayed in the film was the "Richard Riot" of 1955. The Riot stemmed from an incident while playing the Boston Bruins in Boston. While I won't go into detail about the incident it does seem that all sides: Richard, the referees and several Bruins players were at fault and yet only Richard was suspended and fined by the NHL President, Clarence Campbell. Many people believe that it was because Richard was French-Canadian that Campbell punished only him and did so so harshly. It turns out that Campbell was very corrupt (he was later convicted of bribing, but the NHL did nothing to him) and should never have been NHL President. The riots in Montreal not only destroyed buildings and wounded people, but also made Richard a strong symbol of the campaign against French-Canadian discrimination by the English-Canadians. Ordinary people in Quebec Province who otherwise wouldn't have stood-up for their equal rights did so once their "national" game  - hockey - and their "national" star - Richard - came under unfair attack.

In the end, the movie gave me a better understanding of hockey politics f the 1940s-1960s, anti-French- Canadian discrimination as well as Maurice Richard. It is a well-made movie that even non-hockey fans should see.