FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE THE BEST MOVIES IN OUR VIDEO STORE! Mon Oncle Antoine

 This is the story of Benoit and his uncle Antoine on their icy journey on Christmas Eve. Everything takes place over a 24-hour period in the mining town of Quebec. During this time, young Benoit's (Jacques Gagnon) life will be changed forever. Everything takes place not so long ago, in the middle of the asbestos mines. Not so long ago means during the 1940s. The town is poor, people don't own cars yet, but horses. We see the mine worker Joe Paulin (Lionel Villenuve) arguing with his (English-speaking) boss. Joe hates the mine and the English! So he quits, leaves his family and heads off to the loggers where no one can give him orders. We don't see much of him until the end of the film. So the central story also begins with a funeral. The deceased suffered from a lung disease. It is a sad funeral. The flowers are plastic, the rosary is taken back by the undertaker to be used again. Afterwards they return to the general shop of Antoine (Jean Duceppe). Most of the action will take place here. Outside, you see the grim operator of the mine throwing Christmas stockings in front of his employees' houses. Most of the time they end up in the dirt. The employees are treated like serfs and anyone who studies Quebec a bit will notice that we are in the middle of a political film. Even though it never becomes explicit, we are at the height of Quebec's separatist movement. At one point, Antoine flirts with Cecile. Then we notice that Benoit is in love with Carmen. With sad Carmen, whose father collects her wages and doesn't even wish her a Merry Christmas. Then the call from Madame Paulin. Her son has died and Antoine wants to pick him up. Benoit asks his uncles to accompany him on the cold carriage ride. A ride through an oncoming snowstorm. Antoine begins to drink. Don't worry, the horses know the way! When they arrive, Madame Paulin prepares a warm meal for them, while Benoit's eyes keep wanting to go to the next room. There lies the dead boy. On the way home, the coffin gets lost. It falls off the cart. Antoine is too drunk to reload the coffin. He cannot help Benoit. Instead, it bursts out of him; he hates the country, fears corpses and his wife never gave him a child of his own. Now it is up to Benoit alone to help in this situation. He does. Inevitably and responsibly and this leads to the heartbreaking finale of the film that encompasses everything: The endearing, the joyful and the tragic.