Battle of the Brave (2004)

Battle of the Brave is an amazing movie, also known as Nouvelle France (2004), which is the French version. It is a tragic love story about French Canadians. It was filmed in Quebec, Canada. Although it is reported that Battle of the Brave cost $30,000,000.00 to make, I honestly don’t know why. The acting was exquisite and the set true to life, but 30 million? Maybe that’s more evidence of inflation. I’m not complaining… the movie was incredible… very touching and beautiful. I recommend it to anyone wanting to see a bit of Canadian history and a gripping love story with a surprise ending.

It starts when a young woman goes to visit an old priest as he is dying. He sent for her to talk about her mother. He wanted her to know the truth of how he loved her mother and what happened to her. He tells the story of the young woman, Marie-Loup Carignan (Noémie Godin-Vigneau) who fell in love with François le Gardeur (David La Haye). He was seriously the only man in the neighborhood worthy of her, and indeed, they both were amazingly brave whereas others in the movie qualified as crafty, self-indulgent, unkind, cruel, and even outright evil.

Despite the bad neighborhood Marie-Loup had been born in and grew up in, she turned into a witty, tough, and ethical woman. Prior to the beginning of the movie she’d given birth to a daughter, Young France Carnigan (Juliette Gosselin), who has a major role in the movie. All these gave stunning performances in a movie you should definitely pack tissues for if you tend to cry when emotions run too high.

Though the movie is French Canadian, an English language version was filmed simultaneously so the film is not subtitled much – except when Acoona (Bianca Gervais) speaks in her native indigenous language. Marie-Loup and Young France are able to communicate with her perfectly and the rest of us get subtitles during those scenes. Near the beginning of the movie Marie-Loup demonstrates her bravery by rescuing Acoona when French soldiers are harassing and attacking her.

At first Marie-Loup is unwilling to accept a relationship with any man. Her main interest is in keeping her daughter safe. However eventually she gives in to her feelings of attraction to François. Unfortunately while he’s out courting her a disaster disrupts his home. This leads to separation, to attempts to reconcile, and then to a shocking lie that devastates them for many months to come. It is a beautiful story, but not a happy one. However if you appreciate great love stories, this is definitely a movie you won’t want to miss.

You can buy the movie at Amazon: Battle of the Brave, or read more reviews there.

Here’s a trailer… in French.