*** out of ****
Directed by: Jacob Tierney
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Colm Feore, Saul Rubinek and Anne-Marie Cadeiux
Running time: 114 minutes
All high school comedies may be created equal, but The Trotsky is one that comes more equal than the others.
Headlined by a triumphant performance from rising Canadian actor Jay Baruchel and boasting with refreshing intelligence, The Trotsky is a delightful twist on a typically lowbrow genre.
Most films set at high schools stick to the modern day slang, fashion and hot-button teenage issues. The Trotsky, on the other hand, keeps its spirit rooted in Russian history (although the jokes about Stalin and Ayn Rand will resonate best if you weren't falling asleep in history class).
The comedy follows Leon Bronstein (Baruchel), a Montreal high-schooler who has convinced himself that he is the reincarnation of Bolshevik revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky.
An agenda in Leon’s room – a running joke throughout the film – outlines his industrious path, involving exile, marriage, assassination and meeting Vladimir Lenin (but not necessarily in that order).
His father (Saul Rubinek) believes that Leon is a head case – especially after he organizes a union among his dad's factory workers. Bewildered by his son’s irrefutable mindset, he drops Leon out of boarding school and enlists him in one of Montreal’s strictest private schools, headed by Lenin look-alike (for obvious reasons) Principal Berkhoff (Colm Feore).
With his skinny suits, Eraserhead hairdo and knack for making proclamatory speeches, Leon stands out among the rest of his senior class. With his school union (who merely stand there while he does the talking), Leon starts to implement some revolutionary ideas to liberate the apathetic high school masses.
He also falls for a hot-headed graduate student named Alexandra (Emily Hampshire), who Leon is keen to marry to keep with the thrust of his idol’s biography (Trotsky also married an older woman with that name).
Baruchel omits amazing range as our determined protagonist. Once resigned to wimpy supporting turns (Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up), the Montreal-born actor has matured into a credible leading man.
This is not a tiresome one-joke premise (and thank goodness it isn't). Baruchel's Leon Bronstein is an eccentric and noble teenager who speaks like a grown adult twice his age, but cannot mask a sincere teenage awkwardness underneath, especially in his sweet-natured coffee outings with Alexandra.
The mix of staunch integrity and romantic inexperience leads to a turn both dignified and charming. He may have visions of grandeur, but Leon’s still a teenager, ensuring that Baruchel’s performance resonates on more than just one stagnant emotional level.
Unfortunately, while Baruchel anchors the film, the rest of the characters are forced to be swept underneath his current. Writer/director Jacob Tierney forgot to give the other characters and story elements the time to breathe.
The most potent example of this is the Leon-Alexandra romance. In the first half, the comedy and conflict work: she is tired by his never-ending proposals of marriage, but the young Bolshevik-imitator is eager to offer his hand. But as his Russian revolution (of sorts) takes off, the love story is ignored, and therefore its resolution feels sudden and rushed.
Still, while nodding to Russian history, The Trotsky is proudly Canadian. From jokes about Ben Mulroney to the snazzy Montreal locales to a throbbing soundtrack with K’Naan and local Quebec rockers supplying the beats, there’s no denying where the film was set.
Having Canadian veterans Colm Feore as the dastardly principal and Genevieve Bujold as his rigid superintendent are inspired touches, indeed.
Some of the storylines may be left in exile, but Baruchel single-handedly leads The Trotsky to the heights of a minor classic, for both Canadian comedy and the high school genre. And I'm really curious to see how Leon ends up at university.
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