According to the CIA World Factbook, “The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been plagued by political violence for most of its history.” A new documentary, Ghosts of Cité Soleil, shows us very graphically both the poverty and the violence that have been so prevalent in that country. It was filmed in 2004 before and after the fall of the Aristide government.

In the densely populated shantytown of Cité Soleil, rival gangs control the various neighborhoods. These gangs were loyal to the government of Jean-Baptiste Aristide and served to unofficially control opposition. The gangs were referred to as Chemerès (Ghosts). The name seems appropriate because these gangs are a presence of death.

The film focuses on two of these rival gang leaders, Bily and Haitian 2pac—brothers with very different ideals and hopes; but both are tied to the violence that is so central to life in Haiti. Bily is very political. He is a strong supporter of Aristide, and would aspire to be President himself some day. 2pac, on the other hand, while serving to support the government with his gang, speaks with disdain for Aristide. His dream is to be a rap artist, and his raps are often very anti-government. For him, the violence is the real power. He would rather be a gang leader than a government leader.

We need to remember, though, that these two bothers head rival gangs. They certainly have a family bond and would do almost anything for each other, but they also know that the violent lives they lead could well bring them into deadly conflict.

It needs to be said that this is a very difficult film to watch. To begin with it is a very raw look at the poverty so extreme that it makes early death seem inevitable and violence seem like the only way to survive. This film is not jut a series of talking heads musing about life in Haiti; it is an immersion in that poverty and violence. The filmmakers take us into the battles. We see death. This is not a film for the faint of heart.

The film also has a frenetic energy that comes from the extensive use of handheld cameras and through the fast-paced editing. It has the effect of making us feel as though we are indeed in the midst of the troubles we see. It is not a pleasant feeling.

But as difficult as the film is to watch, it offers us an amazingly intimate look into the lives of these two gang leaders. It is also impressive that filmmakers Asger Leth and Milos Loncarevic were willing to literally put their lives at risk (as they did often) to tell us this story. Through their closeness to Bily and 2pac, they manage to let us see the fallen humanity that is within them. These are God’s children, but they need such healing. We never come to identify with them, but we do get a chance to appreciate the forces that have formed and broken them. Leth writes in his director’s notes, “It is sometimes difficult to remember that the young men carrying guns out of desperation are not the disease, but the symptoms of a disease not yet treated.”

The film opens and closes with a close up of 2pac in a dark room. He says: “How my life gonna be? I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe good, maybe bad. I don’t know. Lord knows.” When we first hear him say this, we hear a possibility of hope. When we hear it again later, it is filled with despair. Perhaps the problem with Ghosts of Cité Soleil is that it kills any sense of hope we want to have for Haiti and its people. Is it really that hopeless? Certainly its history has been one of violence and upheaval. This film show us so much darkness that we can only pray for a dawn.