The Negro (film)

The Negro
FrenchLe Nèg
Directed byRobert Morin
Written byRobert Morin
Produced byLorraine Dufour
StarringIannicko N'Doua-Légaré
Béatrice Picard
Robin Aubert
Vincent Bilodeau
Sandrine Bisson
CinematographyJean-Pierre St-Louis
Edited byLorraine Dufour
Music byBertrand Chénier
Production
companies
Coop Vidéo de Montréal
Les Productions 23
Distributed byChristal Films
Release date
  • September 11, 2002 (2002-09-11) (TIFF)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageQuebec French

The Negro (French: Le Nèg') is a 2002 Canadian drama film, directed by Robert Morin.[1] An examination of racism, the film centres on a police officer in a small Quebec town who is trying to reconstruct, through the conflicting testimony of witnesses and participants, the events of the night before, when the petty vandalism of a woman's lawn jockey escalated within a few hours to the woman being found dead and the young Black Canadian suspected of committing the vandalism having been viciously beaten in a field.[2]

The film's original title, equivalent in Quebec French to "the nigger", was controversial, with a Black youth group in Montreal demanding that the film's title and promotional poster be changed.[3] Morin, however, defended his choice to use a controversial title, stating that "If it stirs up some controversy, then at least people will be talking about racism."[1]

The film's cast includes Iannicko N'Doua-Légaré, Béatrice Picard, Robin Aubert, Vincent Bilodeau, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Sandrine Bisson, René-Daniel Dubois, Jean-Guy Bouchard and Dorothée Berryman.

  1. ^ a b "Le Neg' shows up bigots: Morin's work is tough, personal". Montreal Gazette, October 21, 2002.
  2. ^ "Le Neg' beautiful mess of a movie". Edmonton Journal, March 10, 2003.
  3. ^ "Montreal film, Le Neg, stirs up controversy about racism, bigots". Canadian Press, October 21, 2002.