Desounen: Dialogue with Death (1994)

• 73%
• 1994
• Documentary
• Raoul Peck

Years of economic and political chaos in Haiti have led to environmental devastation, crushing poverty and a mass exodus of Haitians trying to reach the mecca of the United States. The tragedy is that the islanders who realize this dream are precisely those with the drive, initiative and energy needed to rebuild their homeland's shattered economy. Raoul Peck's evocative documentary takes the form of a journey through Haiti - a journey with different travelers, along different routes, to different destinations in the Caribbean's poorest country. Guiding the viewer along the way is the narrator, a fictional, wise old peasant, who draws on his ancestral knowledge of life and death, to provide a running commentary on the plight of the real life Haitians he encounters on his travels.