With Blue Jays fever at an all-time high, Netflix has released a timely and fascinating documentary about Canada’s other beloved MLB team: the Montreal Expos
The Snapshot: Quebec’s filmmaking and baseball talents bring the heart to Netflix’s smartly edited documentary on how Canada lost its first Major League Baseball love.
Who Killed the Montreal Expos?
7 out of 10
PG, 1hr 31mins. Sports Documentary.
Directed by Jean-François Poisson.
Now streaming on Netflix for subscribers.
With the Toronto Blue Jays’ current World Series run, baseball fever is arguably at an all-time high not just locally but across Canada. And yet, while there Blue Jays are Canada’s current MLB stars, nostalgic fans know that once upon a time it was another team that brought baseball north of the border.
An effervescent romance of the Montreal Expos baseball club has fascinated sports fans, historians and patriotic Canadians for decades – both the nearly four decades the team played at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, and the two since the team moved to Washington D.C.
There’s an understandable irony then that another big American corporation – Netflix – has led the charge in producing the new glossy documentary about the fall of the Expos in Montreal and its continuing legacy in the city still today.
Perhaps the funniest part about the film Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, however, is that the film was also co-produced by Major League Baseball itself!
Thankfully, the film isn’t desensitized to the nasty business practices that surrounded the team in controversy, nor were any participants censored or withheld from the final cut. That means director Jean-Francois Poisson was able to effectively show contrasting opinions and perspectives on what happened to the team.
Most of the run time is dedicated to a recount of the team’s later history, predominantly focusing on its sale to Claude Brochu in 1991 to its final season in 2004. While the recap is captured with passion, it’s a bit disappointing to have almost none of the film’s research dedicated to how Montreal faced the team’s departure afterwards.
The historic record and its timeline in the film has tight editing and terrific interview clips from owners and players alike. What’s missing is learning more about the aftermath of the Expos, which is barely covered or addressed.
Poisson’s film still features several outstanding and persuasive interviews in hearing from Expos heroes and villains alike – all making strong cases for who was and wasn’t responsibly for the team’s tumultuous finances.
It’s great to see a piece of Canada’s history coming to Netflix’s global audience, especially with a significant number of filmmakers who actually live in Montreal. I also applaud the team’s decision to have an equal number of interviews take place both in English and French, highlight the cultural contrasts between the interview subjects.
Any audience with a love for baseball’s history in Canada will take great interest in Who Killed the Montreal Expos?, but there’s also a lot to be learned and appreciated for newcomers to the sport too.
At the very least, Poisson’s documentary will make many Blue Jays fans yearn to add an Expos jersey to their collection.
