AllMovie

Clocking in just shy of five hours, this mammoth documentary provides an exhaustive exploration of the life and political tenure of the man who was arguably Canada's most popular prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000). During his two terms - one that stretched from 1968 to 1979 and another that stretched from 1980 to 1984 - Trudeau retained popularity almost equivalent to that of a rock or pop star. But the Montreal native also courted controversy, thanks in no small part to his personal quirks, and a segment of the populace reportedly grew angry and unforgiving when he opposed Quebec's attempts to secede; he also ran headfirst into ugly conflicts that included violent terrorist activity and other catastrophes, but that only doubled his determination to put the country back on the right path. In the end, the country experienced successful unification thanks to Trudeau, but he experienced (hands-down) one of the most colorful political lives of any western leader in memory. With this outing, documentarist Brian McKenna tells Trudeau's story on a broadly-scaled tableaux.