| Meet Leon Trotsky: born Leon Bronstein, a revolutionist, a Marxist leader, and killed in 1940 by a devout Stalinist. Oh wait, wrong one. Meet Leon Bronstein: a revolutionist, a Marxist, and high school teenager living in Montreal. Except to this Leon, he's the same person, the reincarnate of Leon Trotsky the famous Russian revolutionist. He's "The Trotsky" stuck in a public high school. |
| 2009
Directed by: Jacob Tierney
Screenplay by: Jacob Tierney
Starring: Jay Baruchel |
 |
| Jay Baruchel stars as Leon Bronstein in THE TROTSKY, an Alliance Films' release. |
"The Trotsky" is part teen comedy, part political history, and it's very funny. Jay Baruchel stars as Leon Bronstein, and having been born with the same name (and apparently many other parallels), he is determined to live out his life exactly as Trostky lived his. Complete with forming unions, being exiled, a hateful first wife, and an untimely death. To him, those are just things to look forward to in a very eventful life.
This is what you call a smart comedy. It is full of political jokes, and if you feel it getting too teen coming-of-age, it will add a bit of Russian history. I would have preferred if they gave us more political history and less teen comedy, but then again they probably wanted an audience.
I recommend "The Trotsky" for anybody who wants an intelligent comedy, and especially for those who want to rid the world of those damn fascists! This movie is Canadian, so watch out for the requisite Canadian jokes, but also look forward to every fascism, communism, Marxist, Stalinist and Leninism reference they came up with. And if you brush up on your Trotsky biography beforehand, there are probably even more jokes. |
