Reviews of 'Man on Fire,' 'The Agronomist,' 'Supersize Me,' 'Nina Simone: Love Sorceress,' 'Soldiers of the Rock' and 'Asshak: Tales of the Sahara.'

By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic

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"Man on Fire"

Maybe the love of a child can save the soiled soul of a "U.S. operative" who has, on orders, killed people around the world. This big maybe, wrapped around themes of redemption, duty, self-sacrifice and revenge, is at the heart of the gripping and violent film, "Man on Fire."

To lead us down such a morally treacherous path, there is Denzel Washington, the man we always want to root for on the big screen. Here, he plays the part of Creasy, a morose but functioning alcoholic who takes a job as a bodyguard to a wealthy family in Mexico, where kidnappings and murders are rampant. Creasy is killing himself slowly with shots of Jack Daniels. He is a soldier, trained in the ways of physical torture and death, now emotionally tortured himself. He is a man who has done horrible things and who wonders now whether God will forgive him. We don't know everything that he's done but we know that in some countries, he has killed "the insurgents," (the term, incidently, that U.S. media call those in Iraq who are fighting U.S. troops).

His primary duty is to protect the family's young daughter Pita (pronounced like the bread) and so much of his day-to-day activity might remind you initially, depending on your generation's references, of "Driving Miss Daisy" with Morgan Freeman or some dusty Shirley Temple flick with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. But with a character so tortured and morose, who is called "Mr." until he grants the child the privilege of dropping it, these comparisons are fleeting. And his hellbent resolve to take revenge on all those connected with her eventual abduction makes it perfectly clear that he's nobody's subservient darkie—not in the typical sense anyway.

Creasy IS, fundamentally, a killer and you could say that he does what he knows best for the family that hired him. The twist that is different, from both the faithful servant or the soldier simply taking orders, is that Creasy is also fighting for himself and against forces that would hurt a young innocent who actually loved him. His incredulity and rage only makes sense if it is personal. Otherwise we are getting into Bojangles territory. "Man on Fire" forces us to accept, in one man, the impulses of both an assassin and a father and that's a lot to put in one man—even on mob shows like "The Sopranos."

In this story, the viewer is expected to accept and understand this rich mix in a man that it doesn't bother to explain very well. We don't know much about him. It's as if the filmmakers believe that the few horrible tidbits that they do reveal should be enough. Instead of giving us depth, it offers, as if a substitute, a killing machine in ruthless action. This film goes from Denzel carrying a flask to Denzel as "the Terminator." There is so much cold-blooded killing that, in moments, the violence goes over the top, but then the film is saved by fancy direction and editing that gives it the feel of a cinema verite documentary. There is also a tight script, soundtrack and sound effects that keep you listening as well as watching the complex and unpredictable drama.

First published April 22, 2004

"The Agronomist:" Haiti's Free Press Hero

Those of us who toil in the so-called "free press," or any of us who benefit from it or value it, have been given the story of a new hero, thanks to the vision and sacrifice of director Jonathan Demme. His new, powerful film, "The Agronomist," documents the life and work of crusading Haitian journalist Jean Dominique, who championed the cause of country's poor majority and bravely challenged various corrupt rulers until he was brazenly shot to death in front of his radio station in April 2000.

Demme first met this national hero of Haiti while Dominique and his wife, the journalist Michele Montas, were in exile in New York City during much of the 1980's and early 1990's. It was in New York that Demme began interviewing Dominique, a wiry, fair-skinned man whose face and voice creased and cracked in energetic expression.

Dominique was founder and owner of Radio Haiti Inter, the country's only free radio station where he pioneered both coverage of the country's impoverished communities and use of the language, Kreyol, spoken by almost all of those on the island. Until then, stations owned and operated by the country's ruling elite, delivered broadcasts in French. Included throughout the film are excepts of Dominique's work, including an aurally lush account of a spiritual gathering in the small town of Sant d'Eau, where the infirm sought healing in the area's muddy waters.

While Dominique tells the story of both his life and Radio Haiti, he also unfolds the tragic history, over the past century, of his country. This history includes some of the role that the United States played in keeping Haiti impoverished, plagued by many coup d'etat and governed by dictators. Dominique was four years old when the U.S. Marines ended a two-decade occupation of the island in 1934. He grew up in a fairly well-off family as a member of the island's privileged mulatto class.

Though he trained as an agronomist, a specialist in crop science and economics, he was confronted with government opposition and briefly jailed for his attempts at improving the production of crops among the country's peasants. From there, he sowed the seeds of the country's national film movement by starting a film club that was later banned by the government when one film made close comparisons between a Nazi death camp and a known place of torture rum by the notorious Tonton Macoutes, the death squad employed by the dictator Francois "Papa Doc' Duvalier. After working as a volunteer at a radio station, he purchased it in 1968 and, until his death, maintained a forum that openly addressed public concerns.

Demme mixes face-to-face interviews with Dominique and Montas with archival footage, photographs and audio to give the documentary a sense of the no frills journalism that Dominique practiced. The resulting product is not fancy but it is very rich, moving and profound. It presents an in-your-face reality of poverty and brutal power —and Jean Dominique's lifelong opposition to it—just off the coast of the United States.

First published May 7, 2004

"Supersize Me" Kills Us Softly With Food

When it comes to illustrating the links between American fast food consumption and obesity, the director of the new film, "Supersize Me," puts his own body on the line.

Morgan Spurlock, a 33-year-old newcomer who won Best Director for "Supersize Me" at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is the central focus of this 98-minute romp that makes Ronald McDonald look downright sinister. Spurlock spends an entire month consuming nothing but food purchased from McDonald's. He orders everything on the menu at least once and if McDonald's does not offer it over the counter, he does not take it into his body—so no vitamin supplements, little dietary fiber and few beverages other than sweet soft drinks. (Water is available.) This new diet, combined with an exercise routine designed to match the sedentary habits of most Americans, leaves Spurlock fatter and so unhealthy that, at the end of the month, doctors wonder if Spurlock has done irreversible damage to his liver.

The context for this up close and personal experiment is the increasing levels of obesity in America—now two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese—and the belief of many experts that fast food consumption is contributing mightily to the fatty bottom line. Spurlock points out that, unlike his childhood in West Virginia, where his mother cooked everyday for their working class family, more and more Americans eat fast food now as a regular part of their lifestyle. Fast food has invaded many school lunch programs and is ceaselessly promoted in multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns. (How many two-year-old do you know who can barely talk but can flawlessly pronounced "french fry?")

"Supersize Me" is a no-frills production, obviously shot on a low budget, in which Spurlock—blond-haired, physically fit and somewhat smart-alecky—serves as a reliable narrator. By focusing on himself, he avoids fat-bashing. And by interviewing a variety of people, he reinforces the fact that those with poor eating habits come in all colors, shapes and sizes.

Obviously, this is not a story designed to sell us on fast food. The running story is interspersed with a load of statistics, and a series of interviews with a variety of folk—adults and children—about food and fatness. Some food experts offer dire warnings about both the health and eating habits of Americans and some in the food industry try to defend it. There are also animated segments, such as one designed to mock the idea of the "Chicken McNugget." (Where, the short video asks, is the McNugget located on the chicken?) Topping off the satire are a series of paintings that render all things McDonalds in a bleak and sinister light. Ronald McDonald as a mercenary anyone?

First published May 7, 2004

Nina Simone in Rare Form

There is no better tribute to Nina Simone, who died last year in France, than to showcase the "high priestess of soul" in one of her recorded moments of musical brilliance, eccentricity and comical diva excess.

"Nina Simone: Love Sorceress," a 65-minute film of a 1976 concert by Simone in Paris, is both a tribute and a priceless piece of performance history. By this time, Simone—fed up with both the American music industry and American racism—had already left the U.S. for France. In her early forties by this time, she is alternately regal and impishly mischievous, with her short afro, fitted black dress and high-heeled pumps, as she regales the audience with a mixture of song, piano virtuosity and much attitude.

This is a concert and the music comes first, starting with "Little Girl Blue," and then segueing into the feisty civil rights anthems "Backlash Blues" and "I Wish I Knew How It Feels to be Free." Simone, who first played piano in church growing up in North Carolina, transitions easily into extended piano riffs that are equal parts church and blues. Accompanied only by a drummer, she commands the stage, sometimes sitting at the piano and, at other times, rising to stand at the microphone to sing—and speak.

And speak she does. In some moments, she appears appreciative and humble before the crowd, offering very proper bows and holding her hands as if in prayerful gratitude. She speaks to them as if in confidence, as if they understand, in a manner a White American audience would not, the intricacies of American racism. In other moments, she is a bit condescending and chiding. She tells them that she is happy to be in France but she doesn't want to be made into a clown. Somebody has the temerity to stand too long at the start of a song and Simone yells angrily and points her finger, repeatedly telling the audience member to "sit down!"

Her overall approach, however, is to have fun. The last segment of the concert is dedicated to an improvisation with two drummers, her occasional vocalizing, piano playing, and bursts of creative African dance. At her core, Nina Simone was a queen. Perhaps the title queen of soul was taken by Aretha Franklin but it is clear that Nina Simone—in all her words, gestures and movement—is nothing short of royalty. Just watch her dance here like a queen would dance—expressive but restrained, loose but just a bit stiff.

This film captures not only a moment for Nina Simone, but also a moment for the 1960's Black Arts Movement, which she helped to export abroad. It is the free-form improvisational spirit of this movement that she represents here, with all of its bold willingness to use art to confront racism and White privilege. Produced by Rene Letzgus and released in 1998, "Nina Simone: Love Sorceress" is traveling to several film festivals in the United States, allowing those of us over here a glimpse of the priestess in rare form.

Screened at Filmfest DC

New Films from Africa

Two new films from Africa that are making the rounds in film festivals, "Soldiers of the Rock" and "Asshak: Tales from the Sahara," offer fresh insight into real life in the homeland.

About 80,000 miners have been killed while working to extract gold and diamonds from the bowels of South Africa. This horrible fact, and the particular exploitation of Black miners, is the subtext of "Soldiers of the Rock," a film made by students at the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance. The story centers on a college student named Vuyo, who goes to work in a gold mine to experience what work was like for his father, who died in a mine and left all of his money for Vuyo's education. But what Vuyo intends to be a brief interlude turns into an important struggle when he joins an effort to organize the miners into purchasing their own mine.

Anchored by Vuyo's clear narration, this is an admirable effort at telling an important story about Black South Africans from their own perspective. The film suffers, however, from a storyline and scenes of action that are often difficult to follow. The sound quality could be better; it may be a challenge for those of us outside of Southern Africa to understand some of the dialogue spoken in regional accents.

Despite these shortcomings and other production quality issues typical of low-budget films, "Soldiers of the Rock" does attempt to deal in a serious way with difficult issues that confront a people trying to unshackle themselves from centuries of occupation and oppression.

At the other end of the continent, "Asshak: Tales from the Sahara" is a fascinating though slow-paced documentary about the lives in particular of the Tuareg people of the Sahara Desert. Produced by filmmakers in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands, the film follows several individuals and families who live the same nomadic lifestyle that their people have lived for centuries. As the Tuareg people explain, "Asshak" and the fear of God are the same thing. It means the deepest respect for the rules of conduct between people, and to respect God and all living things.

This film has a simple, lyrical quality, and each story within it unfolds as if we a watching a scripted feature film. One man searches central Niger for a runaway camel, a grandmother tells of raising her grandchildren and other orphans, another elderly woman gives us her insight into the strength of Tuareg women: "With us, a woman accepts her life the way it is. She stays with her children and her animals and accepts her simple life… Her agreement with God is what gives her strength. She takes on her duties and relies only on herself."

The dialogue is in Tamasheq and there are English subtitles. Much of the photography, of both the people and amazing landscape and sky, is wonderful. If you are interested in seeing real life in Africa, "Asshak: Tales from the Sahara" offers just that.

Screened at Filmfest DC

Esther Iverem's reviews of "Supersize Me," "The Agronomist," "Nina Simone: Love Sorceress," "Soldiers of the Rock" and "Asshak: from the Sahara" first appeared on BET.com.

—May 17, 2004

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