Haïti, le silence des chiens

Democratically elected President of Haiti in December 1990 with 67% of the votes, father Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted from office scarcely a year later by Raoul Cedras’ military coup d’état, which claimed 3000 lives. Forced into exile, Jean-Bertrand Aristide settled in Washington. Robert Malval, a man to everyone’s taste in Haiti, was elected Prime Minister to manage the country’s affairs. The film, made in March and April 1994 just before President Aristide’s return to Haiti, examines the relationship between the two men, these two “chiefs”, once associates to all appearances, but whose personality and outlook on life clash. The camera scrutinizes both men in turn, in the cities where each exercises power : Aristide in Washington, Malval in Port-au-Prince. Each man makes himself clear, justifies his actions and settle his differences. At a distance. And the filmmaker’s commentary sustains the “climate” of the film. Each shot is literally inhabited by a voice-over, which is both intimate and uncompromising.