SaNoSi Productions
Gessica Généus’ Freda reveals the cruelty many Haitians face from a very young age. In a portrait of three women, the director makes a clear distinction between the struggles experienced by men and women. While all facing crises, misogyny, colorism and cultural erasure weigh extra heavily on these women.
Directed by: Géssica Généus
Year: 2021
Country: Haiti, France, Benin
Length: 93 minutes
2018, Haiti is stricken by chaos. People are protesting a corrupt government, demanding good governance, a democratic State, and the oust of the president. Poverty rates increase in what’s already the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Violence worries many of the Haitian citizens and makes them wonder if the situation in their country is hopeless and whether it’s best to flee. This setting serves as the background for titular character Freda and her closest relatives.
Anthropology student Freda (Néhémie Bastien) sees big value in her country and culture. She seeks mainly reconciliation and peace. Freda is a peacekeeper, a listener, and a mediator. She lives in two worlds: the world of her peers, protesting to live under better circumstances and the world her mother has taught her. While she’s worried that protests and violence might worsen their situation, Freda disagrees with her mother’s passive attitude towards the situation. This causes internal conflict within her. She sees people close to her flee the country, but hopes for a better future for Haiti, even though the situation looks bleak. Freda wants what’s best for her, her family and for all the others in her community. After all she’s gone through, she is a forgiving humanist and cares for the people around her.
Freda’s mother Jeanette (Fabiola Rémy), a devout protestant, also tries to do what’s best for her and her family, but she has a vastly different perspective on life. Jeanette is an older woman, who has gone through many crises and rather than trying to change her country, she looks for ways to survive within her situation. Affected by the colonial history of the French that still tortures Haitian society, Jeanette refuses to maintain relationships with practitioners of Vodou and snaps at Freda for choosing to wear her natural hair. She wants Freda to quit her study and start working, convinced that a diploma won’t make any difference in their situation. Jeanette wants her youngest daughter Esther to marry a rich man, so she has the financial needs to survive.
Esther (Djanaïna François) is a young woman who is, just like her mother, affected by the colonial influence of the French on Haiti. She has disdain for her dark skin and bleaches her skin to look whiter. Esther is dating D-FI (Rolaphton Mercure), but soon cuts off all contact with him, after her mother rejects him over religious differences and tells her to marry a rich man.
The stories of these women show three different perspectives and ways women handle the bleak situation in Haiti. Généus draws inspiration from her own experiences, living in Haiti as a young woman herself. These are the people she knows. Though the women in the film may never perform magic or revolutionary acts in the film, they’re each portrayed as heroines, for their survival and for simply being. The women are viewed through a humanist lens, looking at them as actual living people, instead of personifications of good and evil.
It shows that the filmmaker and her cinematographer both have experience in documentary filmmaking. This shines through in scenes where protest and violence are shown, with them using naturalistic filming techniques, highlighting the fact that the settings and the lives of the characters are all rooted in the reality faced by many Haitians.
For the roles of Freda and Jeannette, Généus casted non-professional actors. This is another decision that works quite well in the film; even more amplifying the director’s realist and naturalist vision. The two women knew the story and the setting, as this film was also about them as people. Instead of focusing on theatrical acting aspects, what’s done here is simply portray life. That’s not to say their performances aren’t great. On the contrary, both actresses deliver beautifully nuanced performances that makes the audience feel for the characters and see them as what they are: human.
Fabiola Rémy’s perfromance as Jeanette is a major highlight. She’s able to portray real-life emotions and experiences through her character in a striking way that exceeds performances of many trained actors. There is one unscripted long take in the film in which she pours her heart out, solely through expression. In that scene she’s able to not only speak for herself, but for the countless other Haitian women going through the same struggles, giving them a voice.
Freda premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard competition. It is the first Haitian feature in 21 years to be screened at the festival and the second Haitian film overall.
obviouslyreviews.com 