Love Me Haiti (2014) User Reviews

Drama in Haiti

[eccsa · 8/10 · 11 June 2014]

Love me haiti is a love story/drama set in Haiti the film starts with a transcript I believe to be taken from the local radio station of a man describing the turbulent times and suffering of the people. I am unclear of the meaning but by following the video as the broadcast is made I understand the problem is war inflicted over the past 50 years, we are then presented with the information that the speaker has now been assassinated and the start of the film commences now knowing the plot.

A very dominant feature is the background music throughout the film it builds tension and increases seriousness from start to finish and helps make the film have a lot of depth.

I don't want to give away to much about the story line, however the main characters. Marie Forstner played by Aurelia Khazan provides a realistic performance demonstrating a good acting ability. I also enjoyed the directors overall vision for the film this is often difficult with low budget productions but I feel overall it came together well and I can see larger productions in drama or possible crime thrillers in his future.

Love Me Haiti: Power. Politics. Victimization.

[sercodriguez25327 · 10/10 · 30 September 2014]

I don't like Love Me Haiti not because it is badly made but because the story is depressing and frustrating. Love Me Haiti is frustrating because it presents you a problem in the world to be angry about and depressing because that the problem is continuing and will never be solved, at least you and I will not live long enough to see it change… The film becomes even more depressing because it is based on a true story and puts more than one local face on the problem and allows us to see the issue through the eyes of the local Haitian people who experienced it at firsthand, every day in their life, with their ancestors initially forced and now descendants easily manipulated to embrace the confined walls of a mood-stabilizing Protestant Church especially fabricated for them, under the disguise of Humanitarian Aid. The people continue to pray a supposedly "God of Miracle", hoping for change. All get buried continuing to hope for change and the ones that realized that there is no change coming do so too late; it is already the day they die. And thus none gets a chance to feel this "taste of change".

And it doesn't matter if the characters are fictional or not. The subject matter in Love Me Haiti begs to be heard throughout the world and the filmmaker has presented it with a compelling venue. It is a film with a style that constantly keeps us engaged. It's hard to find fault with this kind of story, other than being mad at the amalgam of greedy, power-hungry politicians, plaguing the planet Earth with poverty, pollution, diseases, earthquakes, you name it. And all is in the name of Mother Nature. I didn't find myself wholeheartedly loving Love Me Haiti either, but I admire the film because of the filmmaker's philosophy and courage to first blame the Self before blaming the Other.

The emotional truth presents in Love Me Haiti is breath-taking. It grips you from the start in the lives of these these people and never lets you go, not even when the film is over. It's hard to forget this story. My self-consciousness would not let me forget it.

A casserole of geopolitical sauce is what I see cooking underneath the "subtexts" of Love Me Haiti. While many political films have plot holes and silly moments, Love Me Haiti is based on a real story which mirrors what defines us as Humans: Haiti's international debt and poverty is shifted away from historical colonialism and now aggravated by the crippling legacy of imperialism. This is the ultimate theme of what Love Me Haiti is targeting. The nation fails to change and free itself from mental and self-slavery.

I often laughs at people preaching: "We need behavioral change! Behavioral change!" - when in reality they play the villain behind-the-scene! What would you say if I tell you that the famous Tibetan monk Dalai Lama's purpose in life is to betray us with beautiful words like: "Through money or power you cannot solve all problems. The problem in the human heart must be solved first..." The film is clearly about the corruption that Haiti was never given a chance to progress to a fully developed country; to a point that many do not know that Haiti existed in the world map until the 2010 Earthquake. Haitian politicians are being manipulated with money; and this is Haiti's new challenge after its independence from colonialism. The problem metamorphoses into an international psycho-political war, which has been destabilizing many other developing countries all over the globe... Haitian politicians are being turned again each other and again their own people... The ones that want to change the country are never given a chance to do something for the country but trapped in some political non-sense or meet Mr. Death via way of bribery to plot assassination.

In brief, Love Me Haiti is a film about Power, Politics, and Victimization. It presents a situation where the same news which informs the people is the same propaganda machine which is used to subsequently brainwash and enslave them, luring the outsider into believing that the problem is an insider problem when it actually grows and re-germinates from international corruption.

A high quality low - budget film.

[konpamusic · 9/10 · 22 June 2014]

I saw this film at ZIFF. It was one of the best films presented in the Old Fort this year. To my taste, this short film was better than the big budget films ZIFF presented this year, even better than Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom, another big- budget failure at the box office.

It is time for independent filmmakers to learn that one can only make Hollywood with Hollywood, neither with Sollywood nor with Nollywood.

For a low budget film, the director did a great job, and the acting performance is believable.

The only thing I didn't like in this film is the music, as I am a fan of silent film. To my taste, I think that the images would be better without music. The music has a dramatic overtone. It adds emphasis on the drama in Haiti, but a bit too much.

Overall, it is a great story. It should be developed into a feature film.

yes 10/10

[webpun · 10/10 · 29 September 2014]

Much credit should go to doctor and filmmaker Hugues Gentillon, who has synthesized a virtual story out of Haiti's reality.

Love Me Haiti is a popular story, suspense filled, beautifully crafted and genuinely brilliant! I like the way in which tension builds up throughout the story.

No doubt, Love Me Haiti will fuel discussion about geopolitical corruption, which is the basis of the film, and will also send more people to read about the filmmaker, which is also the basis of the film. I wonder how much of the story is about Dr.Hugues Gentillon himself? The story also has an experimental feel. The beginning is the end... The end is the beginning...

It left me wondering: "How close to the truth did the antagonist actually come?"

amazing

[lindnw1 · 10/10 · 29 September 2014]

Love Me Haiti tells so much in so few minutes. It reminds me of The Constant Gardener where everyone trusts no one. The antagonist gets himself into more trouble as he discovers the explosive secret involving his wife's murder.

The etiquette of bribery stigmatizes the poor while big business and corporate corruption is on the edge of the rich people that are trying to get richer themselves - holding back the country's development...

The actors' performance is convincing. The jail cell scene is really well acted and cinematography, especially the lighting on the face is amazing! The local language boosts up realism to a point that I felt I was watching a faux cinéma vérité manifesto!