Dessalines & Alexis

We really enjoyed watching Arnold Antonin's documentaries on Jacques Stephen Alexis and Papa Dessalines. While viewing them on Youtube was not always comfortable and both documentaries hopped around chronologically in sometimes confusing ways, Antonin's films are a treasure. As one of the few Haitians out there producing educational video content based on research and interviews with specialists (unlike most of the trash produced and disseminated online and via social media), Antonin's films illustrate examples of more serious filmmakers and students of Haitian history and culture. That said, it was also interesting to see the two films in one weekend since Alexis claimed descent from the father of our nation. 

In terms of the Alexis documentary, Jacques Stephen Alexis, mort sans sépulture, Antonin includes the testimony of a number of Alexis's relatives. Indeed, even his sister, Alta, appears in the documentary (albeit not long enough to take advantage of what insights she may have had about the Alexis family's origins or childhood of her brother). Alexis's daughter Florence and her son, Alexis's wife Andrée Roumer, and a number of writers, intellectuals, and political comrades like Depestre, Bloncourt, and Rassoul Labuchin appear. Labuchin shares some of his memories of traveling to China with Alexis, including the good impression Alexis left on Mao. Depestre and Bloncourt recall their involvement with the student protests that led to the fall of Lescot and Depestre's later conflicts with Alexis. Others who were involved with Alexis's political activities in the 1950s and 1960s express agreement with Alexis's belief in the need for an alliance with the progressive wing of the national bourgeoisie to overturn "feudal" relations in Haiti. Unfortunately, we are still confused about the death of Alexis, but at least the perspective of different individuals is included. Scholars who specialize in literature and Haitian writers like Depestre, Yanick Lahens, and Dany Laferriere also appear, giving their own opinions on the quality of Alexis's literary work. All seem to concur that L'espace d'un cillement is his least dated work, while also expressing an appreciation for his contributions to the Haitian short story. 

The documentary on Dessalines, entitled Jean-Jacques Dessalines, le vainqueur de Napoléon Bonaparte, was a little harder to make sense of. The filmmaker chose to narrate the story of his life in an unorthodox manner, instead of a more linear or chronological order. It was sometimes awkward and difficult to follow, although the documentary did a great job capturing the use and appropriation of Dessalines as a symbol by different ideologies of Haitians. While nearly everyone who appeared in the documentary praised Dessalines for his military leadership and for the establishment of Haiti as an independent state, they also offered nuanced interpretations of his leadership and flaws. Some, including Leslie Péan see the roots of Haiti's political problems in the refusal of Dessalines to accept a constitution modeled on that of the US. Instead, the desire to create an imperial constitution with himself at the head of government, established a bad precedent in Haiti. Others criticized Dessalines for lacking the tact and skills of a politician. An additional perspective blamed the assassination of Dessalines on the US (which is not elucidated) while the massacre of the remaining French population was attributed to the desire of "mulattoes" to remove the French who could have claimed properties or plantations. What we found particularly interesting was the idea that Dessalines was not assassinated out of the fear he would institute some progressive or equitable land reform. It ultimately came down to the belief of Dessalines in the role of the state. The state should possess a dominant role in land ownership by leasing estates, and the state should exercise a major role in trade and commerce. While the model of Dessalines probably would have led to wealthier Haiti, the assassination obviously foreclosed any possibility of that happening. Perhaps the kingdom of Christophe is the closest approximation to what Haiti under the Empire of Dessalines would have looked like (although the documentary suggests Dessalines had a different vision for Haiti than Christophe and Toussaint Louverture).

Overall, these were two excellent documentary films. One on the founder of the nation and the other about one of his descendants who was a major figure in 20th century Haitian literature and politics, illustrates the living legacy of Dessalines. The Dessalines documentary could have been better and some of the claims made require additional explanation or sourcing, but it was a fine attempt to get some idea of who was Dessalines. Some of the revelations and stories included were also surprises. For instance, the depiction of Dessalines on the gourde was based on a Japanese artist's random depiction of a black person because the Haitian government never sent a faithful painting or portrait of Dessalines to base it on. It's tragic to think we have no idea what Dessalines actually looked like though there were accurate portraits lost in fires. Our father remains, therefore, to some extent unknowable but his progeny and ideas of building a stronger nation retain their relevance. Indeed, even Alexis, who believed that a nationalist branch of the bourgeoisie could unite with the forces of the working classes to build a better Haiti, was in some ways following the unitary message of Dessalines who, in his 1805 constitution, proclaimed all Haitians noirs in an attempt to unify the divided Haitian population.