The Balcony Movie

I am sitting on my balcony in Montreal, a city once nicknamed "Balconville". The term emerged at a time when many Montrealers—more than today—could not afford to travel for vacation. People instead took over the front and back balconies of the "plexes", chatting with their neighbours and fostering a strong sense of community and neighbourhood life. If we could not travel the world, then "the world" would pass beneath our balconies.

From mine today, I see none of my neighbours occupying theirs. Inspired by Łoziński, I turn my attention instead to the passersby going about their daily lives and find myself wondering: Who are these people? What are they thinking about? Where are they going? As in his film, as in Warsaw, there is probably among them a grieving man, a woman expecting a child, a former prisoner, or a diplomat. There are likely also a few nationalists among them, dreaming of a whiter Quebec, much like the rather pathetic far-right characters featured in the film.

If we chose to stop moving all the time and simply observe those passing below our homes, this is what we would see: the most beautiful and moving aspects of humanity, alongside the ugliest and most troubling.

Emanuel Licha
Filmmaker and teacher