Brazil Is Thee Haiti Is (T)here

On March 16, 2020, a Brazilian man of Haitian origin addressed the country’s president in Brasília with these words: “Bolsonaro, it’s over. You are not president anymore.” This film essay links his disruptive intervention with the involvement of members of Bolsonaro’s staff in the Brazilian-led military part of the Minustah UN mission in Haiti. Two very bloody “incidents” involving Brazilian generals took place in the Cité Soleil district of the Caribbean island’s capital Port-au-Prince on July 6, 2005, and December 22, 2006. There were many civilian casualties.

The film examines this complex chapter from recent history, using deconstructed and fragmentary material sometimes shown in split screen. Shocking archive footage of bloodied corpses on the streets of Cité Soleil is punctuated by plain captions containing factual information. The film intertwines the indictment of these events with a testament to the history of Haiti, including references to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) led by Toussaint Louverture, the first Black general in the French army.