The Agronomist

Jean Dominique has been renowned for more than 30 years in Haiti for his fearless, inspirational broadcasts on his station Radio Haiti Inter. During the Duvalier dictatorships, he faced massive, indeed murderous opposition. Dominique is a charismatic protagonist, his personal history colourful not only for his long, evidently satisfying career, his family and his similarly courageous and committed wife Michèle Montas, but for how it intersects with and influences the history of Haiti itself. After a spell in Paris enjoying the nouvelle vague, he returned home to direct films of his own and open a cinema club, inspiring other would-be local auteurs. By broadcasting international news, he heightened awareness among many Haitians of developments in the world outside. In more modest and effective form here than he has been in his recent feature films, Demme treats all this in lively but lucid fashion, acknowledging that Haitian history was shaped in no small way by his own country's leaders and agencies. Chastening, illuminating and rightly affectionate.