- guardian.co.uk,
- Monday January 21 2008 18:17 GMT
In 1804, it became the first independent black-led country following a slave rebellion, but these days, Haiti is known only for its poverty and dangerous instability. This sometimes confusing and often shocking documentary about gangland rivalry in a Port-au-Prince slum is like a real-life version of City of God or The Harder They Come. You know any bloodstains, injuries or deaths arising from the deadly skirmishes in its narrow alleyways among the Chimères (ghosts) who count as the local authority here are for real. Things just happen in front of the camera: a French aid worker who seems like an altruistic outsider is suddenly revealed to be the new girlfriend of top hood 2pac. He is also the chief rival of his brother Bily, though both are supporters of President Aristide, so long as he keeps them tooled up.
There are plenty of Uzis but not much food and no serious life expectancy in a film loosely held together by US newsreels. Aristide fled into exile in 2004 and the combatants' fates are covered in end-credit captions. The most famous Haitian emigre, Wyclef Jean, is an executive producer (we see him on the phone to 2pac, hearing the latter's rap composition). His patronage presumably provided a safeguard for the film-makers, but you wouldn't want to be one of them: this must be an uninsurable job. The writer and co-director, surprisingly, is the Dane Asger Leth, the son of Jorgen Leth, Lars von Trier's mentor (and star of his mischievous Five Obstructions).
