Ghosts of Cité Soleil 2006

Critics score:
79 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: More horrific than any tale from the crypt Hollywood could conceive. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Read more

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times: An expressionistic portrait of a society in violent chaos, the film blends cinA (C)ma vA (C)ritA (C) and newsreel footage to capture a modern-day tragedy with Shakespearean overtones. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A spectacularly turbulent portrait of the chaos and bloodshed that have come to define Haiti. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: The director, Asger Leth, isn't terribly organized, but he puts us smack in the middle of everything: petty squabbles, horrible riots, casual shootings, even a love triangle. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: [An] indelible documentary, which dives into the brutal heart of a place most people would avoid at all cost. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A moving and profoundly upsetting portrait of life near the bottom of the global power pyramid. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Leth's gritty, haphazardly edited film plays like a music video, with jagged rap sequences interlaced with urgent handheld Super 8-style footage and a stonking shanty-blues soundtrack. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: If only due to the access achieved, there has never been anything quite like Asger Leth's film; it's amazing it even exists and that the director is still alive. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: That the most powerful aspect of this story is described rather than shown is one of Ghosts' many mysteries. Another is Leth's remarkable access to his subjects. Read more