Product Details

• Actors: John Shattuck, Timothy Carney, Roger Noriega, Noam Chomsky, George W. Bush
• Directors: Nicolas Rossier (II)
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: French (Unknown), English (Unknown)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
• DVD Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FI8MFM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,189 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Taut, well-balanced, insightful. A probing look into Haiti's contentious modern history. --The New York Times

Product Description
An hour south of Miami is the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. In 2004, the democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was taken against his will from Haiti in an American helicopter. Having been deposed once with CIA backing in 1991, the 2004 coup d'etat was not the first American intervention into Haitian politics, nor will it likely be the last.
Featuring exclusive interviews with Aristide, commentary from a wide range of supporters and critics, and searing glimpses inside strife-torn Haiti, this award-winning documentary exposes the tangled web of hope, deceit, and political violence that has brought the world's first black republic to its knees.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine report on the lead up to the ousting of Aristide, July 25, 2006

By	Yannis Cosmadopoulos "yannis" (San Francisco, ca) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film effectively takes apart the Bush Administration's rationale for supporting the February 2004 coup in which democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was removed from Haiti in what Aristide describes as "a modern-day coup". This film eschews the false "objectivity" of corporate news (which is careful to avoid anything which might offend the powerful), and it definitely has a point of view: its sympathies lie with the poor majority of Haitians who since their homeland became the first independent black republic in 1804 have repeatedly been screwed by the superpower to the North (see Paul Farmer's excellent history "The Uses of Haiti", the seminal book on the US exploitation of Haiti). The film lets the facts speak for themselves, and lets anti-Aristide hardliners in the Bush Administration like Roger Noriega argue their case for supporting the removal of a constitutional government. The arguments are about as convincing as the various excuses for launching the Iraq war, and an extensive on-camera interview with Aristide (in exile in South Africa)clarifies how the Washington-backed propaganda campaign twisted basic facts and repeated lies while paramilitaries attacked from the Dominican Republic.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aristide and the Endless Revolution, October 24, 2006

By	Elliot Kriegsman (New York City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rossier's film vividly chronicles the rise and fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected president; from Catholic priest to demagogue; from liberation theologian to cult figure; from populist president to political pariah.

Through even-handed interviews with high-powered supporters and opponents of Aristide, Rossier is able to remain objective. However, recent revelations about the CIA, the Haiti Democracy Project, and the International Republican Institute's involvement in Haitian politics buoy the film's integrity to a level of clairvoyance, helping us understand the events precipitating Aristide's removal from office.

By interweaving Haiti's history throughout the film, Rossier blends context with current events. In the end, we clearly see Haiti as a nation so depleted of resources, it can no longer press for justice in the international arena. The film is a must-see for anyone unfamiliar but intrigued with the process by which the U.S. and other colonial powers have historically maintained control over underdeveloped nations.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch and learn, November 9, 2006

By	Martin Jones (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I want to highly recommend this film!

Nicolas Rossier et al- thank you for illuminating and clarifying much of what I had no more than a lazy awareness and a vague knowledge about...The suffering in Haiti and our (USA) government's role in it is deplorable. I was moved to tears for all the people of Haiti, and the world, caught in such dire political and economic circumstance at the hands of those with too much power and money already and thanks to your film I will never again view news and reports about Haiti's plight with anything like a comfortable detachment.