Le Mepris N'Aura Qu'un Temps (Hell no Longer)

Publisher:  Confederation of National Trade Unions, Toronto, Canada
Year Published:  1969
Resource Type:  Film/Video
Cx Number:  CX207

A documentary of a construction worker's home life, life on the job, and unemployed.

Abstract: 
The late sixties in Quebec were a time of acute social conflict. Massive unemployment and poor working conditions (unsafe conditions like those that led to the fatal collapse at the Turcot Interchange construction site) aggravated the social tensions of Quebec society. Social and political struggle, demonstrations, separatism, and a new working class consciousness surfaced as a result. Le Mepris is not simply a documentary, but a social statement that uses all the filmmakers' talents and technical skills. It shows the construction workers' home life, his life on the job and his life as a workless worker. The impoverished life-style of the worker is starkly contrasted with the lavish luxury of a housing project on Nun's Island in the St. Lawrence -- a project that the construction workers have built themselves. Le Mepris is a moving document that carries an emotional tension with its authentic view of Quebec construction workers. This tension has surfaced once more in the James Bay and Olympic construction sites, between Quebecois workers and the former Liberal Government.