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FILM 2701 Filming the Nation: The National Film
Board’s Portrait of Canada
Professor: Dr. Renate Wickens
TA: Dr. Gillian Helfield
Tutorial: 01
Assignment: Third Response Paper
By: Vanessa Del Carpio
Student#: 209255639
Date Submitted: Monday, April 2nd, 2012
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An Analysis of “Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Metis Child”
Identity politics is a culturally constructed concept associated with activism undertaken
by disenfranchised groups in society (Wickens, Lecture 10). Films about identity politics at the
National Film Board of Canada have often been about the following disenfranchised
social/cultural groups: women, the Quebecois and First Nations People (Wickens, Lecture 12).
During the 1970s and 80s, native representation at the NFB has evolved from films about native
culture made by non-native Canadians to self-representation (Wickens, Lecture 11). At the same
time, there was a shift in the wider field of documentary, which was moving away from the
Candid Eye movement towards an autobiographical documentary style that blurred the lines
between the personal and historical and the experimental and straight documentary (Wickens,
Lecture 11). Dr.Wickens argues that female native filmmaker Alanis Obamsawin led the way,
directing films that “depicted conflict between government organizations and aboriginal peoples
with the single-minded determination of giving a voice to First Nations People and making their
culture and experiences visible from within” (Wickens, Lecture 11).
In this paper, I will describe and interpret one of Obamsawin’s films, Richard Cardinal:
Cry from a Diary of a Metis Child (1986) in relation to this statement posed by Dr. Wickens. I
will argue that in Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Metis Child, Obamsawin uses three
cinematic techniques that contrast earlier documentary styles, like the Griersonian documentary
and Candid Eye Movement, to “give a voice to first nations people and mak(e) their culture and
experiences visible from within.” Specifically, I will argue she uses first person point of view,
personal perspective and a new relationship between image and text/voice to achieve this.
I chose to write about this film because it is a moving tribute to a young, “aware,
sensitive and articulate” man that represented a step forward in native self-representation and
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identity politics; giving a name and a face to the conflict between aboriginal peoples and the
Canadian government and its policy of assimilation.
The first technique Obamsawin uses is first person point of view, which challenges the
dominance of the male “voice of doom” voiceover style. In Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary
of a Metis Child, this point of view is achieved by a soft-spoken male narrator, David Mitchell,
reading key selections from Richard’s diary, which reveal his dreams, needs, wants, confusion
and depression at his life and situation. For example, he says he “wanted to shut out the rest of
the world” because he had been “hurt too many times;” ponders the necessity and complexity of
love; and reveals that, after being held by a nurse after one suicide attempt, he cannot remember
the last time he was held but knows he misses the feeling. The first person point of view also
shows the horrors and tragedy Richard faced, as the audience is taken in to the terrible reality of
the child welfare system in Alberta. In one instance, Richard describes his worst foster placement
ever, in a basement room with red walls, flooded floors, no finished ceiling and inadequate
lighting as a “horror movie” room. Readings from Richard’s diary create a first person point of
view that give a voice to the deceased, and expose the most intimate thoughts and ideas a person
can have – those which are expressed in a personal diary.
This relates and leads to the second technique used by Obamsawin to give a voice to First
Nations People and make their culture and experiences visible from within, a personal
perspective and filmmaking style. The personal mood is first created by Mitchell reading what is
apparently Richard’s suicide note – his last words ever written. It is enhanced by delicate
interviews with Richard’s brother, Charlie, and some of his (nice) foster parents, the Smiths,
Kesslers and Crothers. These interviews, conducted by Obamsawin herself, reveal through close
up shots the pain caused by Richard’s death to those that knew and cared about/for him. For
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example, several close up shots of his brother show pain, worry, anger, confusion, disbelief and
self-protection in his distant eyes. These feelings are reinforced by Charlie’s statements,
particularly the ones where he says he “can’t really feel anymore,” and his shock to find that the
child welfare system only reunited his siblings for Richard’s funeral. These statements and shots
take the audience deep into the personal reality, effects and havoc created by Richard’s suicide
and depression, as well as the actions of the child welfare system. Interestingly, these personal
interviews depart from the Candid Eye style interviews which appear to be “real”, spontaneous
and unprovoked but were often directed, as Terrence Macartney-Filgate admits in “An Interview
with Terrence Macartney-Filgate,” by Sarah Jennings (82). The painful and real subject matter
renders this type of direction impossible in the interviews in Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary
of a Metis Child. The film also does not hide the fact that these are interviews by exposing one
shot of Obamsawin asking a question and not making an effort to camouflage the microphones
on the interviewees.
The film is also made personal by showing graphic photographs and scenes with no
consideration for their “disturbing” and potentially offensive nature. For example, a considerable
amount of time (33 seconds) is spent panning a photograph of Richard’s dead body hanging from
a tree. Photographs of the police and ambulance which responded to the scene are also shown,
and so is a scene of Richard’s gravesite and cemetery. This scene echoes the cemetery scene
shown in another of Obamsawin’s films, Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man, which is discussed by
Lindsey Campbell in “(Re)Covering Oka: Alanis Obamsawin’s Representation of the Crisis at
Oka.” Campbell argues that the aboriginal graves shown with crosses in Spudwrench:
Kahnawake Man counter non-native presumptions about native beliefs and gravesites, and the
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same can be argued about the cross shown over Richard’s grave in Richard Cardinal: Cry from a
Diary of a Metis Child.
In sum, these intimate interviews and graphic, “no holds barred” images personalize the
tragedy that was Richard’s life, while giving names and faces to the tragic effects of the
inadequate child welfare system.
Finally, a technique Obamsawin uses to give a voice to aboriginal people from within is a
new relationship between image and voice. Previous documentary styles had images and voice
“working together” in the same direction. For example, the Griersonian documentary The War
for Men’s Minds by Stuart Legg (1943) had a narrator speaking about freedom and brotherhood
while images of multiracial citizens sang and worked for the war effort. The Candid Eye films
also worked with new technology to synchronize sound and image. In Richard Cardinal: Cry
from a Diary of a Metis Child, however, images and voice, while working together, often
contrast each other. For example, beautiful landscape shots and re-enactments of Richard as a
child playing in nature are often shown while Mitchell reads tragic events from Richard’s diary,
or Obamsawin talks about facts and events in Richard’s life. For example, a shot of a tranquil
lake is contrast by Obamsawin discussing the many upheavals and different placements Richard
had by the age of eight. This dissonance between image and voice work to further personalize
the story and make Richard’s death feel even more tragic, by suggesting what he could have
been doing and seeing if he had not been taken into the child welfare system. These contrasting
shots also reveal key aspects of native culture like a connection to nature, family and community,
through the personal story of Richard Cardinal.
In this paper I have argued that in the film Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Metis
Child, Alanis Obamsawin used three cinematic techniques, first person point of view, personal
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perspective and a new relationship between image and voice, that departed from previous
documentary styles to “give a voice to first nations people and mak(e) their culture and
experiences visible from within.” While I have argued that the cinematic techniques she
employed were a departure from earlier documentary styles, it is interesting to note that she does
present a solution to the problem of aboriginal children in the child welfare system in the
epilogue. The final words of the epilogue read, “The answer lies in a return to our traditional
values in caring for our children and remembering that every child has many mothers.” Although
her representation of the problem is quite complex, as she strove not to “point fingers” at any one
in particular (“Alanis Obamsawin”), her proposal of a solution is ironically very much in keeping
with the Griersonian documentary, which always presented a solution to whatever problem was
discussed. Further work could include assessing how this film countered the ideology of
assimilation, and the concrete impact it had on the child welfare system in Alberta.
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Works Cited
"Alanis Obamsawin." Celebrating Women's Achievements. Library and Archives Canada, 02
Oct. 2000. Web. 01 Apr. 2012. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/women/030001-1259e.html>.
Campbell, Lindsey. “(Re)covering Oka: Alanis Obamsawin’s Representation of the Crisis
at Oka” in offscreen.com 14:3 (2010).
http://www.offscreen.com/index.php/pages/essays/recovering_oka/
Jennings, Sarah. “An Interview with Terrence Macartney-Filgate” in Canadian Film
Reader. Edited by Seth Feldman and Joyce Nelson. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, l977.
Richard Cardinal: Cry from a Diary of a Metis Child. Dir. Alanis Obamsawin. National Film
Board of Canada, 1986. Nfb.ca. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
The War for Men’s Minds. Dir. Stuart Legg. National Film Board of Canada, 1943. Nfb.ca. Web.
30 Mar. 2012.
Wickens, Renate. "Lecture 10 - Identity Politics and Studio D Lecture." Lecture. York
University, Toronto. FILM 2701 Filming the Nation: The National Film Board's Portrait of
Canada. York University, 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.
Wickens, Renate. "Lecture 11 - Identity Politics and First Nations." Lecture. York University,
Toronto. FILM 2701 Filming the Nation: The National Film Board's Portrait of Canada.
York University, 23 Mar. 2012. Web. 23 Mar. 2012.
Wickens, Renate. "Lecture 12 – Course Summary and More." Lecture. York University,
Toronto. FILM 2701 Filming the Nation: The National Film Board's Portrait of Canada.
York University, 30 Mar. 2012. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.