Norval Morrisseau - Drinking During Filming, National Film Board of Canada 1974

Norval was so dedicated to drinking that the NFB crew had great difficulty shooting and cutting around his tottering body and slurred speech. Norval believed that drinking liberated and maximized his creative juices. Is that true? You be the judge. Obviously the Director wanted Norval to paint something for the camera, which was extremely difficult. I personally believe the one piece Norval is attempting to paint is probably the worst Morrisseau creation I have ever seen. In this clip you can clearly see several distinct stages of Norval’s drinking that the cameramen on location, and the editor back home, no matter how they creatively cut to cover Norval’s intoxication, they did not succeed. I happen to believe the NFB should have aborted their shoot instead of filming a man not putting his best foot forward. To crassly and deliberately make the audience think the worst of him -- and by extension, all Canadian Aboriginal people - instead of the best. I don’t know a decent cameraman who would do such a thing. I have been a top Canadian cinematographer involved in shooting films and videos all over Canada - many of them international award winners - for some forty years. From 1975 to 2008 I have shot many films on Canadian Aboriginal peoples, all over Canada. I have never, ever shot anyone that was drunk or drinking, though I have seen more out of control drinking than anyone you know. Too many NFB and CBC crews, think it’s neat to film Indians drinking. Even though they know the behaviour is revolting to general Canadian audiences, and makes them think the worse of Aboriginal peoples. I think it’s a national disgrace that they do it with publicly funded films. I would not want my brother, my father, or mother filmed when they were drunk. And neither would any decent human being that I know of. And I would extend exactly the same courtesy to Canadian Aboriginal peoples. Far too many filmmakers, and NFB and CBC producers, let their cameras express their racism, when funded by the Canadian taxpayer. By treating Canadian Aboriginals as less deserving of basic human considerations they extend to white people, as so many NFB and CBC crews have routinely done. AND IT GETS WORSE... See: