Haiti. Untitled
Director Jorgen Leth
Countries Denmark
Duration 82 min
Synopsis
The French photographer Chantal Regnault plays Leth’s role as the “protagonist”, an observer in the midst of the dramatic reality of Haiti which she also describes with an outsider’s fascination. The film contains a large number of very powerful, sensual pictures of life and death in Haiti, the heartrending weeping at the funerals, mountains of refuse picturesquely and infer- nally aflame, the dramatic mani- festations and ritual beauty of voodoo, the rhetoric of the politi- cians, and far more besides. Another angle is pursued in the scenes of the American soldier stationed there who clearly represents the im- potence of Western rationalism in the face of Haitian reality. But there are also great contrasts: in perfect- ly calm passages the tropical rain pours down on the Hotel Oloffson‘s garden in lingering shots, lightly- attired women wash clothes in a river, and a naked woman poet recites one of her poems draped in a basket chair as the camera slowly zooms in on her. Shots of a naked black woman on a white sheet offer highly personal erotic material that is also displayed during the film in ultra-brief, hidden pictures. Haïti. Untitled is thus a dynamic, vigorous visual narrative aestheti- cally akin to a number of contem- porary documentaries such as Tómas Gislason’s portrait of Leth From the Heart to the Hand (1996), and Jacob Thuesen’s Under New York.
The French photographer Chantal Regnault plays Leth’s role as the “protagonist”, an observer in the midst of the dramatic reality of Haiti which she also describes with an outsider’s fascination. The film contains a large number of very powerful, sensual pictures of life and death in Haiti, the heartrending weeping at the funerals, mountains of refuse picturesquely and infer- nally aflame, the dramatic mani- festations and ritual beauty of voodoo, the rhetoric of the politi- cians, and far more besides. Another angle is pursued in the scenes of the American soldier stationed there who clearly represents the im- potence of Western rationalism in the face of Haitian reality. But there are also great contrasts: in perfect- ly calm passages the tropical rain pours down on the Hotel Oloffson‘s garden in lingering shots, lightly- attired women wash clothes in a river, and a naked woman poet recites one of her poems draped in a basket chair as the camera slowly zooms in on her. Shots of a naked black woman on a white sheet offer highly personal erotic material that is also displayed during the film in ultra-brief, hidden pictures. Haïti. Untitled is thus a dynamic, vigorous visual narrative aestheti- cally akin to a number of contem- porary documentaries such as Tómas Gislason’s portrait of Leth From the Heart to the Hand (1996), and Jacob Thuesen’s Under New York.