On Demand
Directed by Jacob Tierney and Jacob Tierney

THE TROTSKY

The Trotsky

Like most high schoolers, Leon Bronstein (Jay Baruchel, Tropic Thunder) is having an identity crisis. What differentiates Leon, however, is that he believes he is the reincarnation of Soviet thinker Leon Trotksy, predestined to follow the same path as his namesake. When sentenced to public school as punishment for staging a hunger strike in his father's factory, Leon just sees it as another step toward the fulfillment of his destiny. After all, teeming with Stalinesque authoritarians and throngs of budding individuals without a voice, what arena could be more apropos for social reinvention than high school? He quickly enlists a clan of disenchanted youth, and together they devise a plan to take down the dictator—er, principal—and restore the spirits of their teenage brethren.

Director Jacob Tierney cleverly weaves the pillars of the real Trotsky's life with the tribulations of a passionate high schooler by coupling the awkwardness of our formative years with those gosh-darn proletarian struggles of yesteryear. This "revolutionary" comedy will have you red-faced with laughter. Students of the world, unite!

Available On
itunes logo amazon logo vudu logo netflix logo

Like most high schoolers, Leon Bronstein (Jay Baruchel, Tropic Thunder) is having an identity crisis. What differentiates Leon, however, is that he believes he is the reincarnation of Soviet thinker Leon Trotksy, predestined to follow the same path as his namesake. When sentenced to public school as punishment for staging a hunger strike in his father's factory, Leon just sees it as another step toward the fulfillment of his destiny. After all, teeming with Stalinesque authoritarians and throngs of budding individuals without a voice, what arena could be more apropos for social reinvention than high school? He quickly enlists a clan of disenchanted youth, and together they devise a plan to take down the dictator—er, principal—and restore the spirits of their teenage brethren.

Director Jacob Tierney cleverly weaves the pillars of the real Trotsky's life with the tribulations of a passionate high schooler by coupling the awkwardness of our formative years with those gosh-darn proletarian struggles of yesteryear. This "revolutionary" comedy will have you red-faced with laughter. Students of the world, unite!

Film Information
Year: 2009
Length: 114 minutes
Language: English
Country: Canada
Premiere: U.S.
Cast & Credits
Screenwriter: Jacob Tierney
Director: Jacob Tierney
Director of Photography: Guy Dufaux
Producer: Kevin Tierney
Primary Cast: Jay Baruchel, Geneviève Bujold, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Colm Feore, Emily Hampshire, Michael Murphy, Saul Rubinek
Editor: Arthur Tarnowski
Production Designer: Anne Pritchard
About the Director(s)
Jacob Tierney has worked as an actor since the age of six in films like Josh and S.A.M., The Neon Bible, and This Is My Father. He directed the short film Dad and the feature Twist, which premiered at Venice. The Trotsky is his feature debut, and he is at work on the follow-up, Notre Dame de Grace.
Connect to This Film
www.thetrotskymovie.com
film photo 1