Synopsis
The Ballad of Hard Times is a musical tragedy, a sung chronicle, a tale of the suffering, solidarity, and resilience of ordinary people during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It is also a journey through time aboard the economy’s runaway train. It is the revelation of this collective memory that history seeks to make us forget, but which ordinary people remember with the precision of a bad dream; they sing it to us and tell it to us, sometimes with poetry, sometimes with anger, but always with warmth and emotion. Forty years later, the film still resonates powerfully in today’s context. Through the unique social drama and cultural heritage it reveals, this film—a cornerstone of Quebec’s cinematic heritage—reminds us that history repeats itself, that social inequalities continue to widen, and that this system remains as ruthless as ever.
A word from Tënk
"In this film, I was primarily struck by the activism. These were people who refused to remain in an untenable situation that needed to change. The government in place was not necessarily listening to the population, so the people decided to make things happen. We can still make a difference; we can ensure the government listens to us because we must work for our children and for the grandchildren who will come after us, just as those people thought of us today. We must think of future generations."
Chrislande Cerant
Haitian, living in Quebec since 2013
