Ghosts of Cité Soleil

The little glimpses shown by the news broadcasts, can't give us much more than a taste of what is taking place in the world.... Ghosts of cite' soleil is allowing us to participate in a story going way beyond the usual glimpse, feel it when it is the most rotten, and is making us understand the background of certain actions taking place - politically, socially and mentally. It is showing us, what can't be read in any books, and is allowing us to feel what can usually be felt when actually being present, experiencing in real life! For those who wants entertainment and nothing but that, don't even bother! But for anymore with an interest in different aspects of life, with an interrest in history, in reality - don't miss it for the world -This is a great documentary! Sascha, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Its a couple of years since I saw this docuflick, so what you get here is the essence that stuck in my memory.

The two brothers and main characters are living idolizing a gangsta lifestyle and are far more gangstas than the celebrity gangstas that they idolize. These are the real gangstas from real life Partly by choice but even more by need of survival, their fascination with with the celebrity gangstas most of all represent the dream of surviving their present situation (with success). The potentially lethal and ever present tension with their surrounding environment and each other, is something that I have never seen like this in a documentary. they seem to have no choice but aggression. As a viewer you get the feeling that any sign of weakness shown by the main characters will bring them closer to death but so will their aggressiveness. This film made the African child soldier "Johnny Mad Dog" much more realistic for me.

This movie is not without flaws, but portraying it as a movie with a political agenda is a mistake. Its a movie about desperate people interacting in a poor, violent and desperate environment. The frame of the story happens to be Aristides Haiti but it could have been a lot of places.

The 9-star rating is due to the very close and personal relationship between the camera and the characters and the danger that the makers of this movie has exposed themselves to.

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's 2004 in the slum of Cité Soleil, Haiti. 2Pac and Bily are brothers and two of the leaders of the Chiméres, loyal violent young gang supporters of President Aristide. Lele is a French aid worker. Billy likes Lele but she gets involved with 2Pac. As opposition forces rise up to take on Aristide, the brothers clash over loyalties and the mounting pressures. Eventually Aristide is overthrown and the brothers are hunted by the new government.

This documentary is a bit rough and muddy. It has the gritty streets of Cité Soleil. It has great access to these guys and brings the camera right into this disturbing world. Some parts of this documentary seems to be random which leaves me questioning if any of this is manufactured. It's always tough to figure out whether 2Pac is sincere or simply full of bravado. The movie needs to dig a little deeper into the brothers. It may not be possible but it would be great for the brothers to have a heart to heart without the machismo. It also needs a narration or a presenter to clarify the situation in their lives and their feelings. For example, 2Pac was arrested by Aristide's men but the movie doesn't really explain what happened.

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.