You may find many struggle and injustices in your life

　　What you should do is to raise your head up

　　There is no use crying

　　A true brave man is never exempt from fear 

　　A true brave man keeps forging ahead regardless of fear

　　Nowadays, there is a significant trend in arthouse films. Specifically, more and more efforts are put into the revolution of movie language and the technology experiment, whereas people grow much less passionate about storytelling and they intend to undercut the storylines. However, there are films that are still endeavoring to deliver a good story, with a view to casting light on humanity. Le club Vinland of the Official Selection of the 10th BJIFF is such a movie, highlighting the faith and dream with a sufficiently touching story. 

　　In the late 1940s, the story took place in an all-boys school in eastern Quebec, Canada. With clergymen acting as teachers, the school was a church-run boarding school for adolescent boys from poor families. The two leading roles in the film are Jean, a teacher, and ?mile, a student, with the former embodying the light of humanity and the latter affected by this light.

　　The good story of Le club Vinland is largely attributed to the success of the characters. Jean, the teacher, played by the Canadian actor Sebastian Ricard, has great personal charisma. Calling for faith and dream, he also embodies the humanistic light of faith and dream. Different from other clergymen-turned teachers, Jean practiced religious devotion, accompanied by scientific pursuit. Given that theology prevails over science, he dared to disagree and taught the students real knowledge; facing a group of poor children, he dared to preach dreams, offering the alternatives to farming and working. Le club Vinland is an amateur club founded by Jean where he educated the kids on sailing and archaeology.  

　　?mile, played by Arnaud Vachon, offers another lens to look at the movie – exemplifying the influence of Jean. Same as his teacher, ?mile is special. After his father passed away, he was rebellious and unsocial. After several transfers, he ended up being in this church-run boarding school. Due to Jean’s help and impact, ?mile was spared from being expelling from the school. As a result, ?mile’s life turned better and was steered into a different path. 

　　Based on the peculiarities of the two protagonists, Le club Vinland indicates several pairs of contrasting relations with the external environment, demonstrating the power of faith and dream. Featuring a train of stories, the film starts with the fact that Jean took the lead in proving the presence of Vikings on the shores of the St-Lawrence River. Boasting a wonderful story and tense plots, the film is very touching, and viewers can feel the power of faith and dream as they cry and laugh. 

　　Like Le club Vinland, Truth and Justice (T?de ja ?igus) is another movie of the Official Selection of the 10th BJIFF, which highlights the light of humanity. An Estonian film, the hero Andres bought a barren farm, with a plan to start the farming with his wife. However, the neighbor, who had prompted two former farm owners to leave, stood in the way. Le club Vinland is touching, while Truth and Justice is inspiring. Even though it does not educate the viewers on anything through the excitement of seeing a movie, Truth and Justice sets people thinking. Aside from the solemn theme, the film features top-notch cinematography and graphics like oil painting, which is very worth watching.