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There's no question that the situation in Haiti is horrifying, and that it's been horrifying for more than a century. There's also no question that Jean Dominique, journalist and owner of Radio Haiti Inter, was a brave, out-spoken figure until his assassination on April 3, 2000. What's questionable is director Jonathan Demme's success in blending the two together into anything approaching a watchable film.
Largely compiled from a few interviews with Dominique at various times in his life, quite often in self-imposed exile in New York, we get a vivid picture of a man whose passion for his brand of social justice barely overshadows his ego. It's clear that Demme fell victim to Dominique's charisma, as the interview footage becomes redundant but emotional images of the tyranny he fights against remain few. There is little to put Dominique's fight into context, just a few grainy feet of film showing distant boat people, or a quick flash of a dead politician in the street. It's one thing to intellectually know Haiti is a disaster; it's another to be made to care.