Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I missed a number of chances to see this one, and I definitely want to catch up with it. Sounds riveting:

Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here with a look at Ghosts of Cite Soleil, Asger Leth's fascinating but problematic documentary about civil unrest in the slums of Haiti. A quick look at the press notes reveals Leth's July 2004 diary entry that "in Haiti, there is always a score to be settled." In other words, the country's senseless killing never ends. Declared the most dangerous place in the world by the United Nations, Port-au-Prince has little food, dirty water, open sewers and unbearable heat. It is quite literally hell on Earth, the end of the road. Leth's fearless cameramen give us a glimpse into that violent world, a world we feel far removed from despite the fact that Haiti is only 2 hours from Miami.

The film follows two brothers, Bily and 2pac, who are gang leaders of the chimeres, a secret army sanctioned by the government, which is run by President Aristide. The Chimeres are not government officials, but they are outfitted with government weapons. They take care of the dirty work the government needs assistance with, like keeping people in line. They operate independently from the police to intimidate everyone and squash any uprising before it can begin.

Aristide became Haiti's first democratically elected leader in 1991, back when hope still existed. His presidency was interrupted by a military regime from 91 to 94 and although Aristide's Lavalas party regained power for 13 years, the social and economic changes he promised never materialized, and his last term was scarred by political violence. The film is the result of Leth's dedication to exposing the truth about Haiti. The hypocrisy, the turmoil and the nearly unrivaled poverty.
An armed diplomat, Bily aspires to be president. He wants to solve things as peacefully as possible but because he feels as though 2pac does not take him seriously enough, he is willing to take violent measures to earn his brother's respect. 2pac is a dreamer, an aspiring rapper who expresses himself through his lyrics. It is through his eyes that we're given access to Wyclef Jean, a fellow Haitian who takes the time to hear 2pac out and involve himself in the increasingly unfortunate situation his homeland finds itself in. 2pac is a sea of contradictions. He writes songs denouncing Aristide by day but he guards the president's home by night.

Lele is a French relief worker who both the brothers fall for. She eventually chooses to be with 2pac, who is more of an alpha male than his cerebral brother. As jealousy and sibling rivalry threatens to turn the brothers against each other, Lele puts her life on the line to act as their conduit, relaying messages between the two factions, but beyond that, I'm not sure how much good she is actually doing or why she would choose to endanger herself the way she does. She almost feels like Lady Macbeth, influencing the decision-makers from a distance. I'm not saying there's blood on her hands but it feels like there's more to her story than we're shown.

It's true that Leth and co-cinematographers Milos Loncarevic and Frederik Jacobi had unprecedented access to the Chimeres, befriending the gang leaders in order to tell their harrowing story, but as fascinating and shockingly authentic as the film is, it is still lacking something considerable, namely, a point-of-view. Leth gives 2pac and Bily pulpits from which to preach, but the film rarely penetrates the surface of the disaster area that is Port-au-Prince. There isn't enough probing and prodding. Granted, there isn't much need for it because the brothers are so willing to share their thoughts and feelings on Haiti's political situation, not to mention their personal lives, but the film feels like it needs more guidance, more of a firm hand in creating this portrait of a society robbed of any semblance of civility. The structural problems are easy enough to dismiss because of the eye-opening subject matter but it is those limitations that prevent Ghosts of Cite Soleil from rising to the level of a truly must-see documentary.

One of the more troubling things I took away from the film was just how influenced the film's subjects were by American culture and rap music, which often glorifies gang violence. That's certainly a generalization, especially since Jean's music doesn't qualify as gangster rap, but I think it's safe to assume that Jean isn't the only rapper Bily and 2Pac listen to and take their cues from. Scream producer Cary Woods and Factory Girl director George Hickenlooper serve as executive producers on the film along with Jean, whose score adds to the considerable drama on display, though there are times when it's laid on way too thick. The music does a disservice to the story more than once, when the reggae beats don't feel appropriate playing over the turbulent images.
Ghosts of Cite Soleil is a provocative look at the last place on Earth anyone would want to be, a veritable Wild West that doesn't exist halfway around the world but rather right in our backyard. As harrowing as the documentary is at times, it is not necessarily must-see cinema, unless of course you prefer to spend your entertainment dollars exploring serious issues such as poverty, political disallusionment, and of course, gang violence. It's obvious that something drastic needs to be done in Haiti but Leth doesn't take much of a stance on what that should be. In the end, it seems the vicious cycle of violence will undoubtedly continue. The film aims to educate ignorant viewers about the seriousness of the situation in Haiti but only time will tell whether or not history is doomed to repeat itself.

That'll do it for me, folks. I've been working on a whole bunch of reviews that I hope to have up soon. You can count on me throwing in my two cents on The Ten, Rocket Science, The King of Kong, Macbeth, and one of this fall's Oscar hopefuls, a certain Western starring a couple of bad-asses. 'Til next time, this is MiraJeff signing off...