Boarding school boy Leon Bronstein is the contemporary, Canadian reincarnation of Leon Trotski. Just like the Russian revolutionary, Bronstein fights oppression. At home he takes on his father (‘the fascist’), at school he takes on the administration. But are his bored fellow pupils interested in a revolution?
Boarding school boy Leon Bronstein is the Canadian reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. The fact that he grew up in a Jewish family, just like the Russian revolutionary, is only the first sign. In his room full of Communist paraphernalia, he maintains a list of his parallels with Trotsky. Bronstein also wants to fight in solidarity against oppression. His organised rebellion in the clothing factory of the ‘landowner’, in other words his father, leads to his banishment to a state school. There the disappointed Leon does not find any activist pupils, but tame sheep who willingly undergo the bizarre regime of the school board.
Tierney himself calls his second full-length feature 'a socialist high school film'. The result is a slightly absurd comic story about a rebellious adolescent. With a beautiful role by Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder) as a contemporary hero of the Red Army .