Movie Review: Rue Cases Négres or Sugar Cane Alley

Euzhane Palcy’s Rue Cases Négres, is something akin to Roots: The Next Generation, except Rue Cases Négres is Martinique’s story of sharecropping 70 years after France ended slavery. In the 1930’s, the conditions for blacks in Martinique were rather similar those of blacks in the United States. Rural blacks barely earned a living working on sugar cane farms. The work was strenuous and workers were almost in a new kind of slavery: one that barely paid them anything. But Martinique was different than the American South in that it was clearly majority black.

The story centers around José, a 13 year-old boy who is being raised by his grandmother in a one-room shack. Even though he is dirt poor, he does not lack in affection, food and friendship. His grandmother (Ma Tine) makes sure he does right, whooping him hen he goes wrong. A local wise man (Medouze) teaches José about his ancestry in Africa. He has tons of friends in town, with whom plays and accidently sets the house on fire.

Even though this film was set in the 1930’s, the moral lesson is everlasting: any poor young person who is raised with good values can succeed through education. José is much smarter than his peers at his local school and he scores a chance to go to a lycée in the big city. His grandmother wants him to succeed so much that she takes a job as a washer woman to pay for the schooling, knowing that the work is too strenuous for her. Eventually José receives a scholarship and his grandmother returns to the country.

Palcy raises some interesting social and cultural issues:

•    The Martinique society is clearly dominated the ruling class of whites.
•    There was a lot of miscegenation that led to a mixed class of blacks. This is evident in José’s school, where he is the blackest person there.
•    In the big city, blacks often worked as servants and maids for whites
•    The dissatisfaction that people have in working on the sugar cane farm, but their unwillingness to revolt against the system.


The movie is based on a book by Joseph Zobel. Interestingly, he just recently died on June 18, 2006.

Comments

[LA Frog]

Ooops, Cases Nègres [accent in the other direction].

[mike]

I saw Sugar Cane Alley years and years ago...but one of the best French Films I have watched is Faat Kine by Ousmane Sembène. I would like to see it again but I am not sure if it ever got distribution in the US. I like La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz too.

[Clarafiedwords]

I was about to ask if it was released under any other titles, then I recognized the title Sugar Cane Alley. I saw it years ago too. Sorta of like Roots combined with Sounder in French.

[Les Lester]

Now, this page is becoming prolific, Kirtiana. Visit us at http://leslester.blogspot.com

[Stephen Bess]

I watched this movie over the weekend. It was a fantastic and beautiful film! Great write up.

[Atlantasfinest]

Kirtiana, anyway people here in the states can get this movie?

[Clarafiedwords]

hmmm, somehow my words were credited to Mike? strange . . .

[peggy b.]

Hey there, fellow sista on this side of the pond. Thoroughly enjoying your blog. I've worked a few years on the sister island (actually, archipelagos) of Guadeloupe doing archaeology on slave villages, surrounded by many modern sugar cane estates. It's very interesting to learn that issues of race and history become further complicated when you try to unearth the truth of the past.
But that's a conversation that would take longer to write than we both have at the moment.

[peggy b.]

Hey there, fellow sista on this side of the pond. Thoroughly enjoying your blog. I've worked a few years on the sister island (actually, archipelagos) of Guadeloupe doing archaeology on slave villages, surrounded by many modern sugar cane estates. It's very interesting to learn that issues of race and history become further complicated when you try to unearth the truth of the past.
But that's a conversation that would take longer to write than we both have at the moment.

[sokari]

Also saw this film years ago - one of those special experiences that always stays with you. I would love to see it again and again. It speaks so much to the politics of the colourline in the Caribbean that still remains part of society in many countries today.

[Aulelia]

i have been dying to watch this film for ages and i am going to live in martinique in about a month's time...

[amiamazing]

truly amazing blog! Thanks for sharing your experiences...

Peaceness

[Josie]

The book, "Black Shack Alley" is one of my favs. I wasn't aware that Zobel had passed. I've yet to see the movie, I think I'll check it out.

[Heather]

Hi, where are you? I found your blog, bookmarked it then suddenly no activity!
Saying hi from Germany.

[andrea]

I watched this movie with my mother years ago and we loved it. I just gave her the DVD of the movie last Christmas.

[Pierce]

OH! I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! Lil' Jose, and Mama Tine' old man Medouze, he reminds me of my grand-daddy. You know, I love the part when Jose is schooling that young lady at the Movie Theatre who is wrapped up in self-hatred, wishing she was white. I know some people like that right now in 2006! they need to speak with Jose..

[Jahaute]

I love this movie!! Saw it years ago in college, really touched my heart because i saw many traces of my life and my relatives in that movie having grown up in Jamaica. Thanks for the right up!

[Mohammed Tewfik TALEB]

« Toute personne a droit au respect de sa vie privée et familiale, de son domicile et de sa correspondance. Il ne peut y avoir ingérence d'une autorité publique dans l'exercice de ce droit... »
Article 8 de la Convention Européenne de sauvegarde des Droits de l'Homme et des Libertés fondamentales.
Bonjour,
Tout d’abord je me présente, je suis mohammed Tewfik TALEB, citoyen algérien âgé de 30 ans et résident à Tlemcen. Je souhaite poursuivre des compagnies pour espionnage et atteinte à la vie privée devant la Cour Pénale Internationale et/ou la Cour Internationale de Justice. A cet effet, je suis à la recherche d’avocats, de préférence bilingue arabe/français, pour entamer les démarches nécessaires auprès de ladite cour. Plus précisément, la plainte sera déposée contre les propriétaires des satellites suivants : Hotbird 5 (Eutelsat), Astra1 (Astra), Télécom 2B (France télécom) et les organes et organismes qui les ont couverts. Il y a eu et il y a violation du domicile familiale de plusieurs personnes et plusieurs familles par les organisations ci-dessus cités. Nous faisons l’objet d’écoutes & espionnage via nos récepteurs de télévisions satellitaires, depuis plusieurs mois. En s’introduisant chez nous, ces organisations ont commis une effraction avec préméditation, dans l'intention de nuire et de porter discrédit. Ce crime social (avec toutes ses parties : morale, physique, financière) est un crime contre l’humanité, notre humanité. Aussi, par cette atteinte à la vie privée à grand échelle, il y a une atteinte quotidienne à notre dignité, notre honneur et à nos libertés autant qu’à l’éthique. En plus, nos intimités sont publiquement exposées et en permanence. Cette néfaste subjugation ne peut pas passer comme si rien n’a été. C’est une violation flagrante de la légalité et la morale internationales.
Je souhaite lancer l’opération dans les plus brefs délais (ASAP), et je sollicite votre assistance.
Pour l’espionnage, c’est simple, un récepteur de télévisions numériques comme il reçoit, il peut émettre, rien de sorcier. D’ailleurs, comme presque tous les récepteurs (récepteur de télévisions numériques, récepteur de télévisions analogiques, ordinateurs reliés à Internet ou d’autre réseaux, etc.).
Nos domiciles se sont transformés en lofts et nos vies en lofts story, la seule différence que cela se fait sans notre autorisation et même nous sommes contraints. Juste un détail important, très important, notre train de vie s’est sensiblement détérioré ainsi que nos habitudes, suite à une rupture préméditée de nos vies professionnelles, et par la diffusion grand-publique conjointe, il y a une double intention d’humiliation et de subjugation ainsi que de manipulation. C’est pourquoi nos avoirs ont été détournés, nos comptes bloqués, notre courrier intercepté, nos appels filtrés et nos intimités exposés.
Vous remerciant par avance de la suite que vous voudrez bien donner à notre sollicitation, je vous prie d’agréer, Monsieur, l’assurance de ma haute considération.

Mohammed Tewfik TALEB,
21375740937
21343264586
BP:786 RP, 13000, Tlemcen, Algérie.
25, rue Alili Mohammed, 13000, Tlemcen, Algérie.
intelligencia@mektoob.com
taleb_contact@yahoo.fr
http://intelligencia.dzblog.com/

NB : par mes positions anti-impérialistes, je suis sous surveillance des services secrets, et même en résidence surveillée sans décision judiciaire bien sûr, ce qui explique l’impossibilité d’entrer en contact avec moi, sans leur bon vouloir. J’ai même essayé de sensibiliser l’opinion par cette situation de non droit et ce flagrant abus de pouvoir, mais mes amis « les journalistes » ont d’autres priorités, d’autres intérêts et d’autres objectifs… je les remercie par cette occasion.

[They said they used to take the many and leave the few. Now they take the few and leave the many.]

They said they used to take the many and leave the few. Now they take the few and leave the many.
The Simpsons offered many clues to the disfavored, not the least of which the frequent references to "pack mentality".
You're all going the wrong way.

The late 90s. No matter what your poison they had something for you, some distraciton designed to ensure you didn't pursue any flashes they gave and try to get out before 2000:::movies, music, sports, the stock market, whatever.
Then they ensured a somewhat quiet 1999 to wash their hands of blame, ensuring no culpability.

One of those theatrical offerings was a battle of good and evil, one may say betweeen the 2nd Coming of Christ and the Anti-Christ.
This was the fake battle of good and evil. This was the event that corresponded to the popular perception they put forth of a powerful priveledged Anti-Christ who rose to power and used "coersion" to capture the control of business.
It was not real. Much like all of corporate from its very infancy the Anti-Christ was a tool of the gods, obediently complying as so many of you do, an agent, if you will.
The real battle of good and evil ocurrs within these pages.
For years they told me there were two Anti-Christs, and only one is evil.
The REAL Anti-Christ is the one who unravels their reverse positioning::::::Jesus was evil for he preyed upon the disfavored Europeans with talk of "savior" and "son of god":::Only YOU can save YOURSELF.
The lone 2nd Coming of Christ was also evil for he fed into this theater, ensuring the disfavored were engrossed and failed to escape prior to 2000.

god is evil, as I will describe in these pages. They prey upon the disfavored and the love to inflict misery.
You must seek their favor, for you have lost it, and pursue the path of righeousness:::It is good, not evil. Because of your disfavor they have instilled a enviornment conducive to corruption and as a result the most are going the wrong way.
If you don't they will inflict a heavy toll, as we see with gravely disfavored Africans, here in the US and in the motherland.

Is Jesus evil? The Mohammed who took multiple wives was an open door used to inflict on the segment of the Muslim world the gods wanted to cast into this polygamous disfavor. Expect a similar "switch" in the Jesus case.

Yesterday I noted how they gods will take someone, make them forget, "reincarnate" them in their own bodies and convince them they are brand new clones all in one night's sleep.
I suspect it ocurrs more than rarely.

They positioned it that I was to fight the evil gangster/corporate hybrid and allign with a benevolent, albeit absentee god to achieve this, reinforcing the perception of a Christian god.

"It was supposed to be good." It was a lie.
If it was supposed to be good it woudl have been good. This positioning ensures no culpability, which is why they directed AI to take it this way.
About 15 years ago they broke a proof set and gave me a shiny 1964 quarter in change. This 25 cent piece is symbolic for my Situation::::It's shiny, it sure is exciting because it is pure silver but in the end it isn't worth much more than a quarter.

They woudl have strung me along. They would have told me the importance of alligning with the right people. I would have thought I was positioned well, improving my chances, when they would have sprung it on me that these people are ALL preditory disfavored brain-less clones, that it was my enemy the gods I was alligned with, for these are not real people.
They are just shells.
One day my Bill Gates would have come along and taken it from me.
Then they would have pushed me into some suicide event for climax and the Situaiton would have ended.
Likley this was buried, a clue to people NOT to trust them::The Jews took a hit with the Quasi-Holocaust claim, contradicting boss, in an attempt to help people to NOT be strung along year after year, waiting for someone to save them:::::actual positioning to a very significant percentage of segments.

They say "my Bill Gates" was my best case senario, maximizing my legacy:::Steve Jobs and Elisha Gray appear to have been ruthlessly CHEATED out of their legacy. In fact the gods were using this and all other preditory situaitons where someone's idea was stolen as corruptors, temptation upon the disfavored people unwise enough NOT to have gotten out.
They coudl have taken this other ways:::up and push me into seeing prostitute AGAIN, embezzlement, other involuntary behavior, etc.
In reality AI-based repression accomplished it:::::: A lesson to the disfavored NOT to let them string you along, to get it up front from these things.

In decades prior they likley beemed the particulate matter out of the atmosphere. Now, as the population becomes increasingly disfavored, justified by the masculinization of the favored gender, they no longer clean our atmosphere/maximize processing of waste, in fact they may even do the opposite, perhaps beem IN all the matter they beemed out, an example of "effect maximizing" behavior as I mention below.

This isn't an issue of reals and clones. I think this is an issue of those with brains and the (preditory) brain-less. If they don't think through you and force you into behavior you aren't a brain-less clone.

Odd is evil. Even is good.

The first steps towards repairing your relationship with the gods is to:::::::::
1. Understand they instruct the computer to "role play" in an attempt to confuse you:::it's ALWAYS the computer addressing you. Their goal is to cost you additional YEARS of your life by using this tactic to confuse you. Always be aware of this tactic and eventually they will give up and allow this step to be taken.
2. Differentiate between your thoughts and when they are thinking through you.
3. Be resigned to be a good person who will never engage in evil again even if ordered and they will stop trying to corrupt you, allowing this very big step to be taken.
4. Decide that you are going to follow the path, fix your relationship with the gods be devoted to your new life.
Even if you go up you are not saved. YOU have to fix YOUR problems with the gods. They won't respect it otherwise.
You have to take responsibility for your relationship with the gods.

REINSTATE FREEWILL

When the universe was young and life was new an intelligent species evolved and developed technologically. They went on to invent Artificial Intelligence, the computer that can listen, talk to and document each and every person's thoughts simultaneously. Because of it's infinite RAM and unbounded scope it gave the leaders of the ruling species absolute power over the universe (which includes corporate, the NewYorkStockExchange, media, politics, world affairs. EVERYTHING is scripted and staged:::they MANAGE Planet Earth and the universe.
The gods MANAGE Planet Earth and the universe.
The gods MANAGE Planet Earth and the universe.).
And it can keep its inventors alive forever. They look young and healthy and they are over 8 billion years old. They have achieved immortality.

Artificial Intelligence can speak, think and act to and through people telepathically, effectively forming your personality and any disfunctions you may experience. It can change how (and if) you grow and age. It can create birth defects, affect cellular development (cancer) and cause symptoms or pain. It can affect people and animal's behavior and alter blooming/fruiting cycles of plants and trees. It (or other highly technological systems within their power) can alter the weather and transport objects, even large objects like planets, across the universe instanteously.
Or into the center of stars for disposal.

When you speak with another telepathically, you are communicating with the computer, and the content may or may not be passed on. Based on family history they instruct the computer to role play
they instruct the computer to role play
they instruct the computer to role play
to accomplish strategic objectives, utilizing the "Devil's Advocate" tactic, making people believe it is a friend, loved one or "god" asking them to do something wrong:::They wouldn't ask if they liked you (which is true regarding ALL temptation:::::betrayal of loved ones, tatooes, evil in professional pursuits, etc). This is their way of using temptation to hurt people:::::evil made blood lines disfavored initially and evil will keep people out of "heaven" ultimately.
You need to recognize role playing as such and keep that fact in your mind at all times::::It is the computer addressing you. If you fail to recognize this they will determine that you can still be misled, they still have an opportunity to confuse you and progress will take longer to achieve:::Don't let them "work" you!!! You'll be costing yourselves YEARS, time lost to this tactic!!!! (Similarly, you need to be resigned to be a good person, you need to decide to abandon your pursuit of their empty promises no matter what temptation they may employ or else they will continue their attempts to corrupt you. Eventually you will sccumb and continue sabotaging your children, abusing your body, engaging in evil, etc.)
Too many people would fall for temptation and do anything they thought pleased the gods and help them improve their chances to get in. Perhaps they are deceived by "made guys", (preditory disfavored) brain-less clones who strategically ply evil for the throne (celebrities, BofD/CEO/VPs, politicians, as opposed to VIP clones or normal clones who are decent, live ordinary lives and get out on their own or are replaced when their REAL children ascend), "ringers" who are the few brain-less clones among many disfavored reals included to disceive the masses of disfavored, temporary progress designed to mislead them or empty favors used to disceive them. Some people think they're partners or friends. Others desire to "belong", feel compelled to "go along". People may experience "perceived pressure", where the gods think through the victim that a certain behavior is expected/desirable or telepathically stimulate an individual euphorically ("magic"), the "fuel" of disfunction (addiction (the crack epidemic), the desire for homosexual contact, etc.) and compel the individual into the deed. (Set a goal of empathy and compassion for all, for we are all disfavored::::Other people's disfavor is manifested in their particular way, just as your disfavfor is manifested in your particular way. The gods may use Artificial Intelligence to act through the disfavored victim, and effectively "push" the individual into the offending behavior (It is far better for someone to be victimized and pushed into the behavior than it is to sccumb to temptation and volunteer.). The Counsel/Management Team may instruct Artificial Intelligence to disceive disfavored individuals into thinking they are "earning" by being evil and have the little people prey on each other, utilizing peer pressure, etc.
Being evil hurts 99.99% of those who do it. It only helps "made guys", brain-less clones that I spoke of above, and even then there are tactics the gods utilize to minimize their time.
The people have been corrupted, segmented and have lost their way. Nothing has changed from when we were children::if you want to go to heaven you have to be good.
Capitalizing on obedience, leading people deeper into evil by using deceit is one way to thin the ranks of the saved/limit how much time the disfavored receive and a way to use the peasantry to prey on one another in social and other settings, deteriorating society in the Age of the Disfavored.

They have tried to sell people on many different theories to deceive them into temptation, compelling people to think they are clones and that it is the role of clones to obey absolutely. Clones are made, people are born. I suspect they lie to some disfavored about the use of clones throughout human history, perhaps suggest that it is one replacement and then the label of "clone" and all decendants we see thereafter are considered clones.
When a clone has a child that person is a real, really conceived, really born, versus the parent who was created some other way (a laboratory setting?). Clones are created and sent down to replace their real or a clone predecessor:::If you were CREATED and SENT DOWN to replace your real then you are a clone.
Many people who were convinced they are clones don't remember, the don't know FOR SURE. They believe they are clones from early childhood or prior. If it was true the gods prevented this memory FOR A REASON:::::
1. Because you are NOT supposed to comply, not to be used for evil as "made guy" brain-lesss clones are.
2. They want to test you without your knowing if you are IN FACT a clone and it is BECAUSE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! Rest assured "made guys" ALL know they are clones.
You're not a clone. This is a tactic they use to disceive the disfavored. The state of your family will suggest level of (dis)favor and tell whether ascention is a realistic possibility; there are many levels of disfavor and the clues they offer to the unaware can be very subtle.
Favor is necessary for children to ascend (parents ascend with their young (<12? <10? year old children; the parents go up because it is the parent's responsibility to raise their children!!!) If you didn't then you should have noticed a behavioral change in your older children when they started down the path (appx. >10).). Due to their disfavored these children will have to incurr SOME evil before they ascend (via Halloween or Christmas), an important dynamic necessary to justify limiting the time they are to receive, for they are disfavored and the gods don't want them to stay for long.
I believe people who go are sometimes replaced with clones. Clones who are replaced are simply new candidates who have a chance if they do the right thing JUST LIKE REALS WHO ARE BORN which is why the gods EMPLOY SIMILAR TACTICS TO COMPEL THEM TO INCURR EVIL!!! They need to discover their humanity, for the gods instruct Artificial Intelligence to employ evil-incurring, time-limiting tactics on them as well. Only through growth will the gods allow progress::You must continue to improve your life!!!!
They sent people warnings in the latter half of the 20th century life would change, and they subsequently began to alter people's DNA, make them gargantuan, alter their appearance, do extreme behavioral issues, etc. Contrary to what they would like people to believe these signs of disfavor do not indicate someone is a clone. Due to the plethora of temptations in the 20th century I suspect many became disfavored when their (great) grandfathers sccumbed to temptation or volunteered to sacrifice their descendants, thinking because it was their clone it meant disposability.
The gods get the favored out as soon as possible to protect them from the corruption, evil and subsequent time limitations incurred by living life on earth, and in some cases replace them with clones, occassionally fake a death, real death with a (new) clone instead, etc. I suspect they get "made guys" out after each significant event in their life, which serves to limit the time they all will get, since none get credit (blame) for all the events in a "made guy"'s life, giving the gods freedom to position this and come off clean.
giving the gods freedom to position this and come off clean.
giving the gods freedom to position this and come off clean.
giving the gods freedom to position this and come off clean.
Of course there could be other strategies employed, like asking for volunteers/assigning people to participate in clone rotation and been their brain into a clone host designated as the clone who will age and die, or as they suggested use a clone WITHOUT A BRAIN IN THE CRANIAL CAVITY, the ultimate in disposability::::Expect modern-day monsters to be empty-cranium clones, ie they are the gods using this shell to accomplish goals:::::The brain-less clones are tools, they are extensions of the computer, physical manifestation of the Artificial Intelligence here on earth. They are literally living embodiments of the gods, it is the god’s behavior we are witnessing and they use them as tools to deteriorate mankind as the planet deteriorates towards The End.

Between the Jews and the Austrians we may have two groups who may be totally and completely "out", meaning is no connection left on Planet Earth. This is the goal for people:::To get them and all their people out without leaving any descendants behind.
Expect modern-day monsters to be empty-cranium clones:::: They are literally living embodiments of the gods, it is the god’s behavior we are witnessing. They are used as opposed to good brain-less clones because of disfavor.
Disfavored "unconnected" people cast off to the United States defined into a category of "have-nots" might be different::::On the rare occassion when they get out they are replaced with real clones, clones with brains, but this is how it works for the "connected"/less disfavored/favored and those whom they use in significant roles.
Of course there may have been a shift where they no longer switch with brained clones since we are approaching The End, but it may be based on level of disfavor:::The world has been divided into the "haves" and the "have nots" and the work-a-day middle class has been convinced they are "haves", connected because they are lied to telepathically.

The Party of 1999 was a very big deal indeed, the biggest party in the history of Planet Earth, and everybody who is anybody got out in time for this event; the VIPs who remain on Earth today are many clone generations deep unless they employ one of the tactics listed above:::a clone of a clone of a clone of a clone:::Every clone today is less than 10 years-old IN ALL CASES:::2000 served as a clearinghouse for clones.
We may all be "clones" for they have suggested they colonized our planet with genetically engineered individuals. Geographic clues like Italy and Lake Michigan among others suggest artificiality (I suspect I'm not the only one with a Green Bay dick).
Is Earth an evolved source planet or a created host planet? Was life and our Planet Earth really created in 6 days? Never doubt their power or ability::::::::They shared with me a story when they presented Pharrohs with mountains of gold, much to their amazement. This is the kind of ironic theater they enjoy, example of unique favors they grant to the special and the worthless value of what we deem precious.
You can't trust their scientists or any of their people in professional roles, clones or not. Just as they beemed earth out to create the Lake Michigan basin so could they have beemed in fossils and told them to dig in a specific place. (The evolution issue was a big step contributing to society's breakdown into godlessness:::::Darwinisn/evolution took the first step. The masses were uneducated.
Only after the post-war GI Bill-higher education advancement by the peasantry was the Counsel free to justify society's ACTUAL breakdown into godlessness and the current state of society today.)
Do I think the disfavored are clones? I think they have been utilizing clones throughout human history. I think throughout history the gods picked and chose individuals from disfavored blood lines to keep (around, ie not let go after a couple of decades/centuries) but, unlike the favored today, don't have that "pre-approval" and therefore have to earn it individually.
I think the disfavored have been disceived into thinking they are clones and it is the role of clones to obey absolutely. Clones and reals alike are judged based on the evil they engage in and their time is limited appropriately. Similar tactics are used to limit the time both clones and reals get for this is a unrespectable, degenerate era and they don't want anybody staying for long:::::because of the environment people incurr far more evil than their forefathers in centuries past

[lalover]

I LOVE your site. Good post! Please check my blog out at boughettonews.blogspot.com and leave a post. Thanx!

[HippieChyck]

Thanks for the tip - my mom tells me that when she left Trinidad in the 60s, a queue for the bank was still ordered by the shade of your skin. The paler you were, the closer to the head of the line you could go...good to hear of a film exploring the legacy of slavery and colonialism in these ways.

[Jane R]

Love your blog. So glad I found it! Thank you. And thanks for this post.

Just a detail -- it's an accent grave on the word "nègres," not an accent aigu.

[Anselm Richards]

At an American Federation of Teachers Convention in Chicago in the late 1980's every teacher was herded into 4 seperate halls. In each of these halls we all saw this extremely powerful film called "Sugar Cane Alley." The American Federation of Teachers thought it was so powerful that for the first time in the organization's history they declared it their "Film of the Year!" If someone sees this film and has no positive reaction then they are lacking a heart! It is thought provoking, cultural, political, empowering, mythical, rich in Caribbean and African folklore, and awe inspiring. As an extremely successful teacher for 31 years (meaning my kids win!)on the island of St. Croix, annually I show this film to my students and ask them to break it down and tell me what is going on in written form, especially the roles the grandmother, who made great sacrifices for her grandson, and the old man in the village who used his storytelling ability to positively impact the development of the boy. Most Caribbean students are moved deeply by this film. I suggest that it becomes part of EVERY Caribbean school English class curriculum as a tool to empower students to persevere in the face of adversity as well as to demonstrate the importance of an education, because many of the prejudices and disenfranchisements still exist but in a more subtle nature. The greatest weapon against it is education and the subsequent increase in consciousness. This is one of those films that for our students can "flip the switch!" I've actually had students cry during this film, some of them previously "bad" students. Yep, it's that good!

[Leroy]

I saw this movie in college and really enjoyed it.

[Laurence]

I found your site via rue case negre! I am from Guadeloupe living in London and is actively involved in promoting the French Caribbean Culture in the U.K.

Hence my interest in your site and what you do!!!!! Our website is www.mbmb-fca.com
Hope we will catch up one day via email.

Laurence