Educational Media Reviews Online

Aristide and the Endless Revolution is a remarkable piece of filmmaking. Though having many qualities of a primer, it is unfair to call it as such, as it gives a comprehensive and probing examination of the issues polarizing and paralyzing the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere. This film represents a tremendous learning experience for all who want to gain a well balanced understanding of the issues unfolding in Haiti. The appellation of “well balanced” is a hard earned one, as this film justly offers the three, or often more, “sides of the stories” presented within.

Various interplays among the US, the UN, the US’s economic interests, the elite class of Haiti, the poor of Haiti, and Aristide himself and his supporters are provided through copious interviews and narrated pieces. All “parties” have different takes on Aristide’s rise to power, the eventual collapse of his government, his current exile, and the future of Haiti. It needs to be reinforced that this film examines the faults of each party and the impact of each party’s actions.

This is a superb piece of exploratory filmmaking. The film does an outstanding job of implicitly asking the larger questions, such as “What is the United States’ role in the Western Hemisphere?” “What is the United Nations’ role in the Western Hemisphere?” This film is troubling at times, but only because it is an accurate portrayal of Haiti’s grim past. I highly recommend this film for anyone with an aggressive interest in the politics of Haiti, international politics, and political and economic corruption.