Aristide and the Endless Revolution (review)

This documentary presents well-selected, high-quality film footage that is both captivating and grim. This is most appropriate for an accurate description of current living and political conditions in Haiti, as well as their historical context. The film focuses on Aristide's fall in February of 2004 and two competing explanations for the event. The first is Aristide's own claim of forced exile, and related explanations by others that the United States orchestrated the ouster. The competing claim is that Aristide's government brought on its own demise through mismanagement. Using interviews of Haitian and U.S. experts, scholars, and officials, the documentary examines the plausibility of each of these explanations.

Much of the information available on the tumultuous events under discussion consists of heavily biased accounts and questionable, if not outrageous, claims. The documentary briefly shows some of these: Aristide's claim that genocide was being carried out in 2005 and, on the other end of the political spectrum, interim Prime Minister Latortue's comparison of Aristide to Hitler. Yet much of the documentary exposes more objective facts: on human rights violations documented by various organizations and on the harm caused by U.S. intervention through international financial institutions. The documentary does devote more time to pro-Aristide accounts and interviews than it does to unfavorable commentary, or even to neutral information. (About 55 minutes of the video is favorable towards Aristide, versus some 13 minutes unfavorable; about 17 minutes is neutral.) Granted, this breakdown is likely due to the availability of favorable versus unfavorable information. The way in which the information is presented—as clips presenting points and counterpoints—allows viewers to come to their own conclusions.

This video should lead viewers (especially students) to pose questions for further consideration. Among the topics that the documentary brings up, but does not closely examine, include: the complexity and variety of clerical positions on politics; the role of the Dominican Republic in Haitian politics; the specifics of the U.S. role in Aristide's first ouster from power; how exactly the U.S. funds political opposition in Latin America; and the potential legitimacy behind calls for reparations of past wrongs.

While the film shows the polarized nature of discussions on Aristide without being a polarized piece, it misses an opportunity to humanize those Haitian elites who feared Aristide's political leadership. A more balanced work would review these elite fears, such as those arising in Aristide's first presidential campaign, when he made thinly veiled threats of "necklacing" political enemies. This would help show domestic anti-Aristide forces as rational political actors looking out for their own personal security, and not simply as folks seeking to maintain the oppression of the poor. Interestingly, while the film provides written names of most of the people interviewed, it does not do so for anti-Aristide Haitians living in Haiti. This is part of a general de-emphasis on domestic actors in Aristide's ouster found throughout the video.

Overall, however, Aristide and the Endless Revolution presents a far more thoughtful and balanced treatment of Haiti and Aristide since the 1980s than most accounts currently available. Further, it is likely to compel viewers to learn more than could fit into the documentary's 83 minutes.