RIDM 2015: Oncle Bernard

ONCLE BERNARD - L'ANTI-LEÇON D'ÉCONOMIE

by RICHARD BROUILLETTE

THE STATE OF THE WORLD

2015 / Black and White / Quebec, Spain / 79 min. / French with English subtitles 

This film was shot in 2000 using an old fashioned black and white cellulose film. Since the interview was done in one sitting with only a few breaks, there was a problem with reloading new reels while Uncle Bernard, the economist Bernard Maris, was still responding to the preceding question. Time and again the spectator is left to watch a black screen with only white English subtitles at the bottom, while Uncle Bernard is finishing his thought. There is a repeated switch between a television type of interview and a radio-like audio narrative. This constant change of the visual to audio presentation creates a rhythmic type of effect.

Bernard Maris was a university professor. He also worked at the Charlie Hebdo periodical where he published his articles under the pseudonym Uncle Bernard. In this film he is dispelling all the illusions about the scientific basis of the modern economical theory. The economy is presently considered as belonging to science, it uses mathematical formulas and has a well established investigative approach. Even Nobel prizes are awarded for economy in the science category. Yet Bernard Maris  with his sharp and precise intellectual approach, dispels any notion that economy is a science, and that it is used for the best interests of all.

This film might especially interest those who like to ponder the realities of the intellectual thought and discourse, and the realities of our modern society, its values, and how it functions. It is thought provoking.

Bernard Maris passed away during the attack on Charlie Hebdo offices on January 7, 2015.  

Film's Official Synopsis

"Filmed in 2000 during the making of Encirclement – Neo-Liberalism Ensnares Democracy, this interview with Bernard Maris, aka Uncle Bernard, is a fascinating conversation with an independent thinker who was the economic analyst at Charlie Hebdo, assassinated with his colleagues last January. A tireless debunker of the myths that prop up an ever less transparent market economy, this peerless populariser of ideas had a vision of the world founded on social solidarity – a vision that needs exposure more than ever before. Keeping edits to a minimum, Richard Brouillette also includes candid off-camera moments whose warmth honours the man beyond the thinker, and with him the living spirit of Charlie."

COUNTRY : QUEBEC, SPAIN

YEAR : 2015
LANGUAGE : FRENCH
SUBTITLES : ENGLISH
RUNTIME : 79 MIN
PRODUCTION : RICHARD BROUILLETTE
CINEMATOGRAPHY : MICHEL LAMOTHE
EDITING : RICHARD BROUILLETTE
SOUND : SIMON GOULET

CONTACT
RICHARD BROUILLETTE
LES FILMS DU PASSEUR
INFO@FILMSDUPASSEUR.COM

RICHARD BROUILLETTE

FILMOGRAPHY
TROP C'EST ASSEZ (1995)
L’ENCERCLEMENT – LA DÉMOCRATIE DANS LES RETS DU NÉOLIBÉRALISME (2008)

For more information about the documentary film festival visit the RIDM website.