Fantasmas de Cité Soleil

According to the U.N., the most dangerous place on earth is a slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti known as Cite Soleil, an area of unimaginable poverty ruled over by armed gangs dubbed by the locals "Chimeres," which, loosely translated, means "ghosts." For the most part, these Chimeres have been active supporters of the Aristide government, which, in turn, has often paid them to intimidate and do violence against anyone who might have the temerity to dissent from the official party line (though the government has long denied doing so).

The documentary "Ghosts of Cite Soleil" focuses on two brothers - one who goes by the name Haitian 2Pac and the other Bily - who, at the time the movie was filmed, made up two of the five major chieftains who ruled the area. 2Pac, who describes himself on camera as a gangster/rapper and as "pure Mafia," nevertheless sees himself as a defender of the downtrodden who have been largely abandoned by the higher-ups and powerbrokers in his country. Thus, his devotion to the Aristide government is seen as tenuous and conditional at best. His younger brother, Bily, however, would appear to have political aspirations of his own, so he is more overtly loyal to the corrupt leader.

The movie was shot mainly in February 2004, which, as fortune would have it, was also the precise moment when Aristide was forcibly removed from office by groups of armed rebels, many of them former soldiers of the army that Aristide himself had earlier disbanded. Thus, the latter portion of the movie takes place in the not-much-more-stable post-Aristide era.

It's hard to imagine a more despairing film than "Ghosts of Cite Soleil," as even 2Pac himself states right up front that in this impoverished hellhole "you never live long, you always die young." Given such an assessment, is there even the faintest glimmer of hope to brighten the lives of the people who live there? Well, there's Lele, a compassionate French relief worker who devotes her life to providing medical assistance and emotional comfort to these citizens trapped in unremitting poverty and endless cycles of violence - and even helps to broker peace among some of the rival chieftains at a crucial moment. But that moment is an ephemeral and fleeting one, as the status quo of violence, hopelessness and mutual distrust is quickly reestablished there once the crisis is over.

If the movie makes one thing clear, it is that the situation in Haiti is hopelessly complex and entangled, with acts of violence coming from all sides in the daily struggle for survival and in the endless jockeying for power that takes place there. Even the brothers can't figure out if they're really allies or enemies of one another. And always, always, grinding the people down and preventing them from making a better life for themselves, there is the poverty - the debilitating, soul-crushing and inexorable poverty that rules their lives.

Congratulations to director Asger Leth and cameramen Milos Loncarevic and Frederick Jacobi for their personal courage in being willing to thrust themselves into a situation so fraught with volatility and danger. For there is rarely a moment in the movie when guns are not cocked and at the ready - and tempers not flaring. In fact, there are times when you have to remind yourself that what you're watching is not a staged docudrama but a real-time documentary - so close do the filmmakers get to actual violence.

This is definitely a must-see documentary - but prepare yourself for heartbreak.

Asger Leth offers a rare glimpse into the world of Haiti's largest slum through through his remarkable recorded encounters with the Chimeres ('ghosts'), a loose organisation of gangs supporting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Among the Ghosts of Cite Soleil are two brothers, Bily and 2Pac, whose changing perspectives and fortunes are documented alongside Aristide's downfall in the face of an armed rebellion. Bily, 2Pac and their fellow gang-members patrol the streets of Cite Soleil to a soundtrack of rap music, fraternising one moment and racketeering the next; there are guns everywhere and the peace is never more than tenuous. Leth's own camera-work, itself shorn of commentary, is interspersed with newsreel footage of Aristide's worsening fortunes to provide a lucid backdrop to the unfolding drama on the street.

Leth attained remarkable access when recording this film; we see 2Pac showering naked on two occasions and are witness to his startling and intimate affair with Lele, a French aid worker. Yet Leth does not reveal how this access is attained – he chooses not to show the seams of his documentary style and this leaves many important questions unanswered. Due to editing we do not hear Leth's voice, whether he is speaking to one of the Chimeres or to an expert on Haitian affairs. The lack of a 'presenter' – which contrasts with TV documentary series such as Unreported World – means that the subjects speak directly to us and not through a translator, but at the same time we are left with little clue of the questions that are being put across by the film-maker.

In the absence of a presenter or commentator the camera takes on a greater role in interviewing people. In the presence of the camera, 2Pac and Bily are often full of bluster about their status in Cite Soleil. Such scenes are revealing about the self-image and social interaction in Cite Soleil but they draw the film away from the more detached style of observation employed by many documentaries. This is a film closely centred on Bily and 2Pac and those viewers expecting a lucid account of life in a Haitian slum will be disappointed. Ghosts of Cite Soleil nevertheless succeeds as a unique and compelling portrait of gang life in Haiti.

I saw this tonight (8/17/07)at Facets in Chicago and was handed propaganda by American people who are apparently jumping on another cause that blames America for everything. This film did not appear to have an agenda at all to me. I actually was wishing it had a little more of one because I kept getting confused about who was good and who was bad. There is a reason I was confused, because they didn't portray anyone as completely good or bad. The place seems a mess.

The people handing me the papers definitely had an agenda just like some of the reviewers on here. In fact one of the papers I got has word for word the same thing as one of the reviewers. People yell out racist and compare the director to Leni Riffenstahl and we are supposed to think it's the film is biased??? The propaganda against the film is what seems to be blatantly biased. It is unquestionably pro Aristide.

I don't understand how anyone can call this film racist. That seems to be a typical ploy to get people emotional and disregard any facts. I didn't see any of the Hatian people as evil thugs, I saw them as victims and survivors used and manipulated by corrupt governments.

This film maker did not appear to be for deposing Aristide at all. I got the impression that both leaders were corrupt which is most likely the case. It definitely looked like the new government had the brothers killed unjustly. The brothers were not shown as completely good or bad either. We see their deplorable living conditions and their bones prominent on their scrawny bodies as they showered and know that they are desperate.

I think this film maker did an excellent job because no one came out blameless. Some reviewers on here want you to believe that Aristide was blameless and that the gangsters were made up, despite actual footage of gangsters attacking demonstrators. Even if Aristide didn't order it, he should have at least gone after the gangs.

It is simple--this is a story of of gang warfare. There is no truth--there is no right--there is no way out. It will only end when one side is wiped out. I commend the makers of this film on their documentation of the voices of all involved and this film should be viewed by everyone who is concerned about violence that springs up in the midst of poverty. It is not without reason--these people have a need for respect, they have family, they want the same things that every human wants/desires--if you don't care ... what do you expect. This is not only a film about Haiti, but about any environment in the world that faces the extremes that these people face...

Despite a few rather dour write up's on this site, I admired 'Ghosts Of Citi Soleil'. If anybody followed the news in Haiti a few years ago, it's dictator, Aristade was deposed, leaving the country in a state of chaos. This "cinema verite" documentary concerns two brothers on opposite sides of the whole ugly scene (one, pro Aristade,the other, con). Both brothers are involved in vicious street gangs, although there is still a sense of brotherly love between the two, despite the odds. The film documents a warts & all approach to the whole gang problem that makes daily life a misery in the ghetto where it all takes place (it's very gritty, complete with a firecracker string of f-bombs, gun violence & general ugliness). The great Wyclef Jean not only composed the incidental score to the film, but also has some on screen time, as well (for those who have been living in a cave for the last ten or more years now, Jean is a musician,producer,arranger, and former member of the Fugees). If I have any quirks about this film, it's sometime hard to pin a bead on the film's camera work (the hand held camera work does tend at times to shake around a little too much). Apart from that,for anybody who has an iron clad will (and doesn't get too offended by rough language), Ghosts Of Citi Soleil is a grim, but interesting window into another culture,generally ignored by America.