Polytechnique 2011

A young man meticulously prepares his rifle and writes a heartfelt message to his mother before heading to Polytechnique Montreal, an engineering school. Inside a classroom, he disrupts the lesson by entering with his weapon drawn. Demanding the men vacate the room while instructing the women to remain, he demonstrates the seriousness of his intentions by firing a shot into the ceiling. As he proclaims his animosity towards feminists, the terrified women protest their non-feminist beliefs, yet he callously opens fire, leaving some dead and others wounded. The chaos escalates as he roams through the hallways and cafeteria, specifically targeting women in a premeditated attack.

Among those caught in the turmoil is Jean-François, a male student who received the order to exit the classroom. Instead of fleeing, he bravely returns to confront the shooter and assist the injured victims. Meanwhile, Valérie and Stéphanie, two women who manage to survive the initial onslaught, play dead, hoping to escape the killer’s notice. Unfortunately, Stéphanie later succumbs to her injuries, amplifying the tragedy of the day.

As the rampage continues, the assailant finds another classroom where he ruthlessly murders a female lecturer. In a moment of despair, he takes his own life, resulting in a gruesome mingling of his blood with that of his victims.

In the aftermath of the massacre, Jean-François, plagued by guilt for having obeyed the order to leave and abandoning the women, tragically ends his own life through carbon monoxide poisoning. Valérie, now wearing the Iron Ring—the professional symbol of Canadian engineers—discovers that she is pregnant. Determined to instill love and resilience, she resolves to teach her potential son to embrace kindness or her potential daughter that the world rightfully belongs to her.