With the cold season and the polar vortexes comes a new television offering that you absolutely won’t want to miss: the series L’Appel, the new creation of the tireless Luc Dionne. In this one, the war against the bikers led by Maurice “Mom” Boucher becomes a gripping thriller of the kind that is too few in Quebec. Here is a production, signed Aetios, which fulfills its duty to remember as much as its mandate to entertain!
Summer 1997. The Carcajou Squad, supported by legal advisor France Charbonneau, works hard to accumulate evidence against Mom Boucher and her biker gang, alongside the murders of two prison guards. They will have to join forces to put an end to the carnage and finally bring down the leader of the Hells Angels. In the fray, certain members of the clan will have to turn around and become informers.
Many of us remember this alarming moment in our Quebec news, particularly when journalist Michel Auger was shot in the parking lot of the Montreal Journal. These events made headlines for months, causing a certain amount of panic. However, what L’Appel offers is to relive the events from the inside, as if we were there. Police officers deprived of sleep and under pressure work day and night to achieve their goals. After major arrests, a first trial took place, but the result was a fiasco. It will ultimately take France Charbonneau and several experienced investigators to send to languish in prison those who led a regime of terror in different regions of Quebec.
Having long been passionate about this subject, Luc Dionne read everything about these arrests carried out by the Carcajou Squad in 1997. In addition to having been able to discuss them in person with several people involved in the case, including France Charbonneau herself ( who also praised the series this week), the author devoured thousands of pages of interrogation transcripts. So he knows the subject like the back of his hand. It is for this reason that he was able to write this little gem of a scenario in a few months, in which he retraces all the highlights of this merciless struggle, without downtime or missteps. True to himself, the prolific author impresses with his sharp pen and his ability to captivate, while highlighting the invaluable work of several representatives of justice.
He is supported here by Julie Perreault, who landed with The Call his first solo directing mandate. It won’t be his last, if we rely on the result presented to us this Monday to the media. Julie Perreault was able to use the raw material offered by Luc Dionne and magnify it to make it one of the most captivating police thrillers of recent years. The result is reminiscent of certain major American titles like JFK, Argo or Spotlight. You won’t be able to put down this fascinating offering, delivered with a bang, in which references to Quebec in the 90s are teeming.
-Obviously, to achieve the result that you will discover, we also had to count on the work of the actors who all offer phenomenal performances under the direction of Julie Perreault. At the top of their game, Magalie Lépine-Blondeau, Patrice Robitaille and Pier-Luc Funk particularly impress, offering strong scenes that will give you chills. In a role of few words, Vincent Graton proves just as astonishing in the role of Maurice “Mom” Boucher, often sending shivers down the spine with a simple look.
Hats off to all the artists and artisans of this high-flying production, definitely worth putting on your agenda!
The Call can be seen from Thursday January 23, with two episodes per week, on illico+.
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