Ghosts of Cité Soleil

2006

Action / Documentary / Drama / Music / Romance / War

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 77% · 53 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 72% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 1961 2K

haiti

720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
785.84 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
us  de  es  fr  hu  ro  
25 fps
1 hr 25 min
Seeds 1
1.58 GB
1920*1070
English 5.1
NR
us  de  es  fr  hu  ro  
25 fps
1 hr 25 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Buddy-51 8 / 10

a depressing but riveting documentary

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.
Reviewed by Pingo-2 7 / 10

Makes its points - but in a very strange way.

Reviewed by Robert_Woodward 8 / 10

Not your average documentary

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.
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