AllMovie

Filmmaker Luc Bourdon presents a loving portrait of the changing face of one of Canada's great cities in this documentary. Compiled entirely from archival footage collected by the National Film Board of Canada, The Memories of Angels is a visual history of Montreal from the early 1950s into the late 60s, as the city matured from a hub of Canada's Quebecois community to a center of international tourism as the Expo 67 world's fair brought the attention of the world to Montreal. While a number of celebrities pass through the city in this footage -- Queen Elizabeth on a visit to Canada, concert appearances by jazz legend Oscar Peterson and teen singing star Paul Anka -- the focus is on the people of Montreal and the city itself, as it grows from a working class town into one of the nation's largest and most beautiful metropolitan areas. Featuring material from over a hundred different National Film Board documentaries, The Memories of Angels received its American premiere at the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.