17501: (Chamberlain) The Agronomist (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

(The Columbia Journalism Review, Nov-Dec 03)

A Defiant Passion for Truth

BY AMY STONE

The Agronomist
U.S. distribution by THINKFilm
The Agronomist will open in New York and Los
Angeles April 16


"I tried to introduce information. Risky business." These are the words of
Jean Léopold Dominique, the man whose Radio Haiti Inter was the first to
broadcast in Creole, whose newscasts challenged the Duvalier regime and its
successors, and whose passion, style, and wit captivated the filmmaker
Jonathan Demme. Following a brief meeting in Haiti in 1987, Demme
videotaped conversations with Jean Dominique in exile in New York during
the '90s. Demme, known for the Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs, has
caught the essence of the man: slim, intense, eloquent, pipe in hand, a
fighter for human rights in Haiti.

Demme traces Jean Dominique's life in the context of Haitian history — from
his birth in 1931, when the U.S. Marines occupied his country, to the reign
of terror of François Duvalier and his son, President for Life Jean-Claude
Duvalier, to the rise of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the idealistic priest who
became Haiti's first democratically elected president, through his
overthrow by a military coup, and to Aristide's own undermining of
democracy following his return to power.

The documentary catches much of Haiti's intensity, with an original score
by the hip-hop stars Wyclef Jean and Jerry "Wonder" Duplessis. It also
offers marvelous coverage of family history; gut-wrenching U.S. Coast Guard
footage of fleeing Haitians falling from unsafe boats and their agonizing
return to Haiti; shots of crowds of Haiti's poorest ecstatically welcoming
Jean Dominique back from exile. Video of Radio Haiti itself moves from
everyday scenes in the broadcast booth to the station's outer walls,
pockmarked by machine-gun holes above lush flowers.

When Demme first began filming, he thought he was making a documentary of
an extraordinary man who became an agronomist to help his country's
impoverished farmers, who had been jailed for his support of Haiti's
underclass, who had helped create Haiti's first films as an opening to
political change, and who, after the Duvalier regime shut down his cinema
club, in 1965, bought Radio Haiti, where he worked for a couple of years as
a freelancer.

The documentary was to capture Jean Dominique's passion for democracy for
the Haitian people and the love story of the fearless journalist and his
partner in work and marriage, Michèle Montas (Columbia J-School '69). Demme
anticipated a happy ending: Jean and Michèle's return from a second exile
to run Radio Haiti following President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's own return
from exile.

But happy endings are scarce in Haiti. The outspoken journalist who
survived both Papa Doc and Baby Doc was gunned down in April 2000 by hired
killers believed to be in the pay of a senator in Aristide's party.

Michèle Montas kept Radio Haiti going, opening each day's broadcast with
"Bonjour, Jean." On the day of the station's return, she began with her
husband's recorded voice: "It's 7 a.m. They try everything — to gnaw at us;
to bury us; to electrocute us; to drown us; to drain us. It's been going on
for more than fifty years. Is there a reason for it to stop? Yes — one:
Things must change in Haiti. For freedom of the press: Radio Haiti, at the
service of the Haitian people. 1330 AM. 106 FM."

Although The Agronomist ends there, the story does not. Twenty months after
Jean Dominique's murder, Brignol Lindor, news director at Radio Echo 2000,
was hacked to death by a machete-wielding mob from an organization known as
Asleep in the Woods. In November 2002 a radio station that had covered a
protest demanding Aristide's resignation was set on fire. Last Christmas,
Michèle Montas's bodyguard was murdered; she has since closed the station
and gone into exile in the U.S. Many of the most experienced journalists
have fled the country. Louis Joinet, an independent expert on Haiti for the
UN Commission on Human Rights, says there is fear that "tomorrow, the only
options for the critical journalist in Haiti will be self-censorship,
exile, or death."

Aristide continues to claim that his government respects freedom of
expression and protects members of the media. He hopes for restoration of
direct U.S. aid to Haiti's government, which was cut off following the
suppression of opposition parties during elections three years ago. New
legislative elections are tentatively scheduled for November, but the
opposition parties are refusing to participate, and the U.S. says it won't
recognize the vote unless the Haitian government makes the country safe for
democratic elections.

Meanwhile, those behind the murders of Jean Dominique and others go
unpunished. Perhaps Demme's documentary will provide the international
pressure for justice, proving Jean Dominique right about the political
power of film.