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.

Awards

The film was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2002.^[4]

The film received four Genie Award nominations at the 23rd Genie Awards in 2003: Best Original Screenplay (Morin), Best Costume Design (Sophie Lefebvre), Best Editing (George Browne and Lorraine Dufour) and Best Art Direction or Production Design (André-Line Beauparlant).^[5]

The film received three Prix Jutra nominations, for Best Direction (Morin), Best Screenplay (Morin) and Best Editing (Dufour).^[6] Dufour won the award for Best Editing.