The Deserter (2008 film)
{{Infobox film
| name = The Deserter
| native_name = {{infobox name module|fr|Le déserteur}}
| image =
| caption =
| director = Simon Lavoie
| producer = Simon Lavoie
| writer = Simon Lavoie (play)
| starring = Émile Proulx-Cloutier
Raymond Cloutier
Danielle Proulx
Viviane Audet
Benoît Gouin
Gilles Renaud
| music =
| cinematography =
| editing =
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|2008}}
| runtime = 90 min
| country = Canada
| language = French
}}
The Deserter ({{langx|fr|Le déserteur}} {{IPA|fr|lə dezɛʁtœʁ|}}) is a 2008 Quebec feature film directed by Simon Lavoie. The film stars Émile Proulx-Cloutier, Raymond Cloutier, Danielle Proulx, Viviane Audet, Benoît Gouin and Gilles Renaud.{{Cite news|url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/entertainment/movie-guide/story.html?id=22ef70df-3831-427d-a18f-36e1c2bfb7c6|title=Review: Le Deserteur|last=Kellt|first=Brendan|date=October 23, 2008|work=The Gazette|accessdate=2008-10-25}}{{Cite news|title=Georges Guénette, déserteur|last=Demers|first=Maxime|work=Le Journal de Montréal|date=December 19, 2007|language=French}}
It tells the story of Georges Guénette, a deserter from the Canadian Army during World War II, who was shot and killed by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Background
Georges Guénette was a deserter from the Canadian Army and, like many French Canadians during World War II, an opponent of the war and conscription.
In May 1944, a few months after Guénette deserted from the army, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers found Guenette in his father's farmhouse, in St-Lambert-de-Lévis (near Quebec City). He jumped out of a window and ran across the fields. Guénette fell, wounded "by a ricocheting bullet," and died without the last rites of the church.Time, Monday, May 22, 1944 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20081214230459/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,796595,00.html])
Two RCMP officers were later charged with manslaughter in Guénette's death, and the shooting was an issue in the 1944 Quebec general election.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GMsEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8y0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4212,1647406&dq=georges+guenette|title=The Week in Quebec|date= November 17, 1944|work=The Coaticook Observer|accessdate=2008-10-25}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deserter, The}}
Category:Films about deserters
Category:Films directed by Simon Lavoie
Category:French-language Canadian films
{{2000s-Canada-film-stub}}