Documentaries have that valuable knack for taking a subject or person that might be outside your realm of knowledge – and making them completely unforgettable.
Such a movie is “The Agronomist,” a stirring and sad non-fiction portrait of Jean Dominique. This charismatic gentleman was a crusading journalist in his native Haiti for many years, a thorn in the side of tyrannical governments, and a victim of unsolved murder.
Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme (“Silence of the Lambs”) began shooting footage of Dominique in the early 1990s, and put together this film after Dominique’s death in April 2000. It culls material from many different sources, and it has a terrific soundtrack of Haitian music created by pop star (and Haiti native) Wyclef Jean.
We follow Dominique’s early efforts as a filmmaker, in a country where there was virtually no movie industry. Then in 1968 he took over Radio Haiti Inter, transforming it into the language of the average Haitian and frequently criticizing the corrupt government of “Papa Doc” Duvalier.
Dominique would sometimes broadcast live as the sound of bullets could be heard outside Radio Haiti. Through the various regime changes, he was chased out of Haiti twice, for years at a time, in 1980 and 1991.
Jonathan Demme met him while Dominique and his journalist wife, Michele Montas, were living in New York in the 1990s. Demme’s fascination with these two is immediately explained by their charisma: Dominique comes across as fiery, thin as a rail, marvelously dramatic in his pronouncements about democracy and truth as he sucks on his pipe, while Montas is quiet, steady and clearly fueled with steely determination.
Interviews with them form the backbone of the picture, but Demme has found other good footage. One spectacular moment has Dominique returning to Haiti after six years of exile, in 1986, and being greeted at the airport by 60,000 supporters. The look of astonishment on his face is real, but like the pro that he was, he rises to the occasion.
One of the most moving sequences depicts Michele Montas going on the air some weeks after Dominique’s murder and defiantly announcing that Dominique survived due to a magic potion in his pipe tobacco. It’s a remarkable gesture, only possible perhaps in the peculiar intimacy of radio.
Demme fills in the pieces of Haiti’s troubled history. Even a few weeks ago, the country was newly in misery, with once again the hint of outside forces meddling.
It would have been so easy for Jean Dominique to stay in New York and make speeches and live out his natural life. “The Agronomist” – a title inspired by Dominique’s youthful training – proves that some people won’t take the safe way.
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