A Little Fellow from Gambo - The Joey Smallwood Story
1970 · 56m · Canada
Directed by Julian Biggs
Genres: biography, documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative
A portrait follows Newfoundland premier Joseph Smallwood over two and a half months, including a stormy Liberal leadership convention.
Picked by Margot
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A straight political portrait from 1970 feels almost designed to bore me, but Biggs' refusal to mythologize Smallwood—letting the convention chaos and the man's own contradictions speak—is a quiet subversion of the hagiographic doc tradition; it's anti-climactic in the best way.
Biggs situates himself in the observational documentary lineage of the NFB's golden period, and the formal restraint—two and a half months distilled without voice-over moralizing—demonstrates the curatorial discipline of letting historical process unfold on its own terms; it's a masterclass in structural patience.
The decision to shoot an entire political leadership crisis in real time without editorial shortcuts or dramatic scoring is the move that makes this work—Biggs trusts the rhythm of actual events over narrative convenience, and that trust is what transforms a provincial moment into something genuinely cinematic.