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29264: Kathleen (review)Variety.com - Ghosts of Cite Soleil (fwd)
From: Kathleen <kathleenmb@adelphia.net>
Variety.com - Ghosts of Cite Soleil
kathleen Burke (kathleenmb@adelphia.net) has sent you a Review.
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?l=review&r=VE1117931713&c=31
Posted: Wed., Sep. 27, 2006, 12:28pm PT
Ghosts of Cite Soleil
(Documentary -- Denmark - U.S.)
A Sony BMG Film release (in U.S.) of a Nordisk Film A/S, Sakpase Films,
Sunset Prods. Independent Pictures production in association with the Danish
Film Institute. (International sales: Nordisk Film Intl. Sales, Valby,
Denmark.) Produced by Mikael Chr. Rieks, Tomas Radoor, Seth Kanegis. Executive
producers, Kim Magnusson, Cary Woods, George Hickenlooper, Jerry Duplessis,
Wyclef Jean. Directed, written by Asger Leth. Co-director, Milos Loncarevic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By TODD MCCARTHY
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Few documentaries could be as different as "March of the Penguins" and
"Ghosts of Cite Soleil," a scary, fascinating documentary about gang life in
Haiti's worst slum. The comparison comes to mind because it is difficult to
decide which film would have been the more challenging and profoundly
discomforting to make. If only due to the access achieved, there has never been
anything quite like Asger Leth's film; it's amazing it even exists and that the
director is still alive. Rough as can be in both content and style, "Ghosts"
will be welcome everywhere tough, provocative docus are shown.
The United Nations has declared Cite Soleil "the most dangerous place
on Earth;" this slum of Port au Prince, populated by up to 500,000 people,
makes the townships of South Africa look like Beverly Hills. As shown in the
film, which was lensed in 2004, it's an entirely lawless place presided over by
sinister chimeres, or ghosts, violent young men allegedly employed and armed by
then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and so named because, in a sense,
they're already dead, given their typically brief lifespans.
The chimeres are controlled by a few gang leaders representing various
Cite Soleil neighborhoods. When you conjure up your worst nightmare image of an
amoral, doped-up, gun-waving gangster who couldn't care less if you live or
die, you've got the guys who are front-and-center in this movie.
Leth is the son of Danish filmmaker and longtime Haiti resident Jorgen
Leth, who collaborated with Lars von Trier on the 2003 release "The Five
Obstructions." While it is sometimes difficult to believe that the
self-described "thugsters" are letting him film what we're seeing, Leth
evidently appealed to the criminals' desire for self-glorification, and they
allowed him cover their lives for several months in 2004, a pivotal year that
marked Aristide's flight from office and the country.
The main subjects are 2pac and Bily, 20-ish brothers loyal to Aristide
who lord it over separate parts of Cite Soleil. 2pac is the classic,
charismatic gangster -- arrogant, full of hubris and, in his case, keen to
become a rapper like the man from whom he took his name. Bily seems a tad
brighter if less magnetic, and hopes to rise through the ranks of Aristide's
Lavalas political party all the way to president.
There are young women and little children in the background who may or
may not be related to these men, but there are strikingly few signs of bonds or
beliefs -- no parents, religion, ideology or even a gangster code to live by.
The two blood brothers have their disputes, and at one point are on the verge
of killing each another. It's all about survival and control over a tiny patch
of turf, and longshot dreams of getting out.
One of the very few Haitians to have made a name for himself in the
world at large is musician Wyclef Jean. He's 2pac's idol, and at one point 2pac
manages to get the New York-based singer-composer on the phone and sing one of
his songs for him. Jean was recruited by Leth to serve as exec producer and
collaborate on the score, which will increase the pic's visibility and
credibility in some quarters.
A key and rather ambiguous figure is a white, blond Frenchwoman, Lele,
described as a relief worker, although what she does in this regard is unclear.
More relevantly, she acts as a conduit and buffer between the filmmakers and
the brothers. The brothers both come to fancy her, and, unsurprisingly, she
ends up choosing 2pac. One suspects there's more of a behind-the-scenes story
involving Lele than is revealed.
Backgrounding the gangsters' everyday routines is the growing turmoil
surrounding Aristide, serving a second term as president after having been
exiled in 1991. As the action unfolds, he is under increasing pressure to step
down, and once he does, the situation changes dramatically for his slum-based
enforcers. The new police chief announces his intention to go after the
chimeres, American and French troops patrol Cite Soleil and a Disarmament Day
is set to collect illicit weapons.
The housecleaning may cut off the head of the serpent -- a climactic
accounting of what happened to the various gang leaders is pretty astounding --
but nothing on the horizon can possibly deal with the dead-end cycle of
violence that keeps turning out impoverished, uneducated youth with no options.
What's on view in the film is appalling and startling, but intimate enough to
be a human story rather than just a sociological snapshot.
Mostly using a 16mm camera, but with some video as well, Leth and
co-director/lenser Milos Loncarevic get in close and personal, hanging in tight
in their subjects' dismal homes, but mostly on forbidding streets where one
would never dare go in real life; even local taxi drivers, it is revealed,
refuse to venture into Cite Soleil, the expanse of which is revealed in an
impressive aerial shot. Some broadcast and archival footage fills out the
greater picture.
Camera (color/B&W, 16mm/DV-to-35mm), Loncarevic; editor, Adam Nielsen;
music, Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis; sound (Dolby Digital), Hans Moller.
Reviewed at Telluride Film Festival, Sept. 3, 2006. (Also in Toronto Film
Festival -- Real to Reel.) Running time: 88 MIN.
(English, Creole, French dialogue)
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