Ghosts of Cité Soleil is a raw documentary directed by Asger Leth. The camera explores the texture of destitution in Cité Soleil, an enormous slum which is home to the Chimères and rival gangs. Each area of the city is ruled by a gang chief. The Chimères are gang members reputedly in the pay of then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. When Aristide leaves the country, the “most dangerous city in the world,” explodes into chaos.
Leth works as part of a filmmaking team of three, interviewing residents and covering action during the day. There are night scenes shot in black and white. At a wake for a gang member shot by police, Tupac tells a man that if he can’t get him a generator (the power has gone off) he will shoot him. During the Q&A, Leth said he was afraid during the film shoot, but safest with the gang leaders. Ordinary gang members could be unpredictable, such as one who was addicted to crack.
Near the end of the film, a tall, middle-aged man faces the camera and explains that Haiti has been independent for two hundred years. Despite this, Haitians still need and pray for education, food and rest. As if to illustrate Haitian’s desperation, he looks at the cameraman and says, for example, that he would like to kill him and steal his camera.
I recommend this compelling film to anyone who can stomach it but it may make you angry. The Haitian gangster’s obsession with rap made me resent rich, celebrity rappers, for glorifying the gangster lifestyle. Haiti’s Tupac, a major gang boss, is obsessed with escaping Cité Soleil by becoming a rap star. One minute he might be telling one of his henchman that he will no longer spare his brother (due to gang politics) and the next he might be playing his homemade rap tape for his girl. This allows him to think of himself as an artist, not just a criminal. Tupac even phones Haitian rap star Wyclef Jean on camera. Jean is so impressed with Tupac that he collaborates on the documentary’s music.
The gang leaders Leth filmed are, according to him, dead now, but the Chimères are still active. This film gives a personal, insider view of the cycle of ghetto hunger and violence and creates some understanding for the young, desperate gang members born into life on the street. Five stars out of five.
The Last Kiss explores the insecurities and desires of the young and privileged. I felt manipulated by this film which explored several middle-class doom scenarios:
You and your longtime boyfriend accidentally get pregnant then he cheats on you.
You are successful and have achieved financial security but if you settle down, the rest of your life will hold no excitement or surprise.
The woman you love obsessively marries another.
You are trapped into running the boring family business.
At a time of emotional confusion, you cheat and your lover finds out about the other woman. She dumps you and you have no say in what she does with your unborn child because you were too afraid of commitment to get married.
Perhaps some of these characters would like to alleviate their ennui by taking a turn in Cité Soleil… Three stars out of five.
Half Moon was an artistically ambitious film that ran too long and needed story-editing. I am extremely sympathetic to the desire to discuss the repression suffered by ordinary people. Here they are Kurd musicians, including a female singer whom they must smuggle over the border like contraband because of her gender. The film has many funny and interesting moments. I give it three stars out of five.