Aristide & The Endless Revolution

20 Nov 2012-1 Jan 2000

Overview

(Dir. Nicolas Rossier, 2005, 84 mins, cert PG) Jean Bertrand Aristide, a former priest and exponent of liberation theology, became Haiti’s first democratically elected president in 1991. His policies aimed to raise the standard of living for the disenfranchised majority of Haitian citizens. Rossier's documentary focuses on Aristide's later years as president, as he struggled to fulfil promises of reform in the face of an increasingly hostile relationship with the USA and mounting domestic opposition driven by Haiti’s business elite and military interests. Following a coup in February 2004, Aristide and his family left Haiti on a US-dispatched airplane to Central African Republic (according to Aristide, against his will, according to the US state, with his full co-operation). It includes an interview with Aristide, filmed in his period of exile before returning to Haiti in 2011.