Having fled the Duvalier dictatorship with his mother, a young Haitian is welcomed in Quebec by a caring childless couple.
Jacmel, 1975. For four years, Haitians have lived under the regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier. Like thousands of her compatriots, Erzulie (moving Penande Estime), several months pregnant, risks being tortured or murdered because of her political ideas. In the middle of carnival, she leaves the country with her son Rico (Rayan Dieudonné, naturally conquering).
After spending some time in Chicago, the young woman and her son settle in Quebec with a caring couple without children, Cécile (Claire Jacques, luminous) and Albert (Martin Dubreuil, endearing). However, not everyone welcomes the arrival of Erzulie and Rico, including the hostile Gabouri (Claude Despins, truculent). While Erzulie isolates herself in silence, Rico finds comfort with Kana (Tyler Epassy, adorable), little lwa (spirit of the voodoo religion).
First known as an actor, Henri Pardo (Dear Jackie, Afro Canada) successfully turned to directing more than ten years ago in order to explore the Afro-descendant culture here. It is therefore not surprising that the native of Edmundston, born to parents who fled Duvalierism, wanted to tell a little of his family’s history in Kanavalhis first feature-length fiction film.
Shot from a child’s height, Kanaval first plunges us into the heart of the Haitian carnival and its mischievous creatures. Glauco Bermudez’s snooping camera and Marc Recchia’s nervous editing show a city of Jacmel that is both marvelous and terrifying. It is also during these nocturnal festivities that the young hero, curious and reckless, discovers what his mother is going through.
However, Henri Pardo is discreet, preferring to suggest the horror of the situation rather than showing its full extent. Nor is it burdened with explanations about the political regime in place, thus creating a timeless vagueness. Surprisingly, it becomes somewhat didactic in the scenes where Erzulie introduces Albert to Haitian culture.
As the action moves to wintery rural Quebec, the picturesque threatens to descend into caricature and magical realism creeps in without warning. Bringing together Creole and Joual in a certain poetry, the filmmaker tackles ordinary racism head-on. Although some scenes are harsh and cruel, it is not on this subject that Henri Pardo wanted to dwell.
In fact, through the journeys of Erzulie and Rico, uprooted cultivating in their own way the memory of their native land, the director treats with sensitivity the trauma of exile, like Ru, by Charles-Olivier Michaud. Patiently following the slow adaptation of his characters in their new homeland, Henri Pardo sincerely salutes the resilience of the exiles and proudly celebrates the culture of his ancestors.
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Drama
Kanaval
Henri Pardo
Rayan Dieudonné, Penande Estime, Martin Dubreuil, Claire Jacques
2:02 a.m.