Ghosts of Cité Soleil - Trailer
By Johny JacquesOkay so I saw this movie today with a friend at 5:35 and immediately after we left the theater he was upset showing very emotional disgust towards the movie but I was baffled couldn't figure out why. My take was that this was a greatly shot film and it was very good how they took a documentary and made it into a story with subplots, I thought it was somewhat genius and definitely worth the wait for me.
He started off telling me how he would never recommend this movie to other people and then his real feelings came out, the fact was he disagreed with the people in the movie's points of view and that's when it hits me...Haitians...yes, I forgot you cant separate Haitians and their political opinions on anything dealing with Haiti.
He admits the visuals were great and the movie was well documented but he states he just didn't feel bad for the characters in the movie because he did not agree with their points of view on the whole Aristide thing...also one point he made that I am sure many of you even would share is that the movie can potentially feed into the negative imagery that people have of Haiti to begin with.
My response to his concerns were this. First of all you have to take the movie for what it is...this wasn't one of those documentaries forcing the director's political opinions on you...the guy that shot this did not at all come off as if he had a political agenda or even knew enough about what was taking place in Haiti. He simply went into the worst slums that no one dares to enter and gave us real footage of people that were involved in what was happening in Haiti. Of course you saw their side of the story which nothing is wrong with that. In fact, even the sides of the story really was not the story. This was no pro or anti Aristide, the movie revolved around the life of two real people, two brothers who ran a section of Cite Soleil and one of them was pro Lavalas while the other was outwardly against Lavalas so I dont see why anyone would be upset at the lives of people because it conflict with their opinions, especially if that wasn't even what the movie was trying to portray.
My second argument was that this was not the media going in to shoot the poor neighborhoods of Haiti to come report to the first world. This was real lives and the economically and political situation that surrounded it. If it angers people that Haiti's dirty laundry would be shown to vividly to the world my only advice is those that are angry and ashamed to get up and wash the laundry. Frankly I am tired of Haitians always complaining about how we are being depicted and about the imagery coming out of Haiti when we sit on looking not doing much to change it. (not referring to my friend though as he does do a lot for Haiti)
This movie was great. It was shot very well. I respect the film maker for his courage and the ability to take a documentary and turn it into something so dynamic. I saw it twice tonight and cant wait to go back again. The movie was just pleasing in my view. At times I had to remind myself this is not made up and it was real footage I was watching because the story at times is a bit gripping and surreal.
For the late show I was accompanied by 3 other friends and all of them came out loving the movie...One of them left the theater talking about coming back again this weekend to watch it with her boyfriend. I saw another person I knew go watch the 7:45 show and when he came out he told me he loved it so I know I am not the only one.
My suggestion is if you are going to see this movie to go into the theater leaving your pro or anti Aristide opinions behind because they can really cloud your mind and stop you from enjoying the movie. This movie for once is not about the Haitian people's political affiliation, opinions. If you pay attention and not think bias you will see that mainly the two leading characters in the movie discuss their affiliation and one is for Lavalas while the other thinks Aristide is an idiot that needs to get out of Haiti. If you really pay attention you will also realize that this movie mentions Aristide and it was his problems that made this movie possible but in reality the movie was not about him as much as you initially thought. Go see this movie because it does show some of the footage we hate to see from Haiti but it doesn't show it from a bias standpoint, it shows it like a reality TV show that is based in Cite Soleil. Also for those that walk out feeling like they picked all of Haiti's worst images to scare people just do realize that all throughout the movie they do state exactly where all of it is taking place and that is in Cite Soleil one of the worst and largest slums in the world. If the story takes place in the slums you have to expect to see the worst...
I give this movie 2 thumbs, an index and a pinky toe up...I cant wait for the DVD
P.S. City of God is childs play compared to this