Hommes a Louer, exploring male prostitution in Montreal, is one of the few documentaries that allows audiences to think for themselves.
The line between what cinema is and what it ought to be is one that is being crossed increasingly rarely, according to film historian and critic André Habib.
Last Friday’s Mary Ann Beckett-Baxter Memorial Lecture held at Concordia University was called “Can we still think with images?” and headed by Habib and filmmaker Rodrigue Jean. The talk was preceded by a screening of Jean’s critically acclaimed documentary Hommes à Louer. The Jutra-nominated film is a series of interviews with 11 male prostitutes from across Montreal over the course of a year. It’s a harrowing and disturbing account of a dark pocket of society where prejudices abound. There’s no sugar-coating the facts in Hommes à Louer; it isn’t a Michael Moore-type documentary with a ton of voice-over and crazy graphs and music – there are none. The audience is left t …

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