I recently watched the film titled Ghosts of Cite Soleil and I was so intrigued that I decided to share it and get other people's perspectives on it. The film takes place in Port-du-Prince in Haiti and it highlights the lives of the Chemeres or the ghosts of Cite Soleil who are gangsters who allegedly protect Aristide. I was very surprised as I had always thought of Aristide as the "the people's president" with his liberation theology.
I really liked the film Ghosts of Cite Soleil the best because it portrayed what seemed to be the real life of gangster’s in Haiti. The voices we tend to always hear are those voices of the powerful and rich but rarely do we hear the reality of the oppressed. I think this is one of the best things of this class, that we have been able to analyze the perspective of the oppressed and her their story about the events that have devastated Haiti. I think the human experience can be a universal one in which human rights violations occur in many parts of the world and they are just as damaging and usually connected to the same reason, oppression by the rich. I liked being able to apply Marx’s Conflict Theory to Haiti.
I wondered if this was staged in any way. I also wondered about the role of Lele with the Chemeres. In a way I question her ethics and professionalism in engaging in a romantic affair with 2pac. I think the film also in a way romanticizes and idealizes gangsters as “the good guys” when they are criminals and the viewer should not be feeling sorry for them. I understand the humanity which the producer is seeking to portray but we must remember what we don’t necessarily see, which is the damage these gangsters have caused others. How about the voices of the families of those they killed? We don’t get to hear their voices or their story.
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