The Agronomist (2003)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Release Date:

31 March 2004 (France)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

The true story of Jean Dominique, a Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist.

Plot Keywords:

Haiti

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Jean Dominique	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aboudja	...	Himself
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity.

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud)

Company:

Clinica Estetico

Quotes:

Jean Dominique: Clearly our silence and restraint irritated Dany Toussaint, and perhaps his masters. The mistake of Dany Toussaint was to think that a bit of terrorism on the part of street thugs would give access to our microphone. If they keep trying to use these screamers in front of Radio Haiti Inter to shut down the Delmas Road...

Movie Connections:

References La strada (1954)

Radio Haiti!

"The Agronomist", Jean Dominique of Haiti's story, is somewhat interesting, but not that much. The slant that director Jonathan Demme put on Dominique's life is what a great man he was for his tireless efforts to save Haiti from dictatorship, lack of free speech, and general repression. As I watched the film, I began to wonder if this was possible. Dominique's broadcasts are good historical information, but we only see a small fraction of them, so it's hard to really tell how "revolutionary" his radio station was. I'm surprised that the government let Dominique keep the station after exiling him twice. I liked Jean Dominique, I think he had a fierce spirit, and wanted to see a democratic, quasi-socialistic Haiti, a Haiti something like Norway or Sweden. A few days after I saw the film, what I'm really left with is how miserably poor Haiti is (except for the few mega-rich that run things). I think this is more of a small screen film for PBS, vs. something for the big screen, if you haven't seen it, wait til the DVD.