听 User Rating 
Contains strong language and references to violence and death
Life is horrifyingly cheap in Ghosts Of Cite Soleil, a 2004-shot documentary on the Haitian slum declared "the most dangerous place on Earth" by the UN. That claim's never hard to believe as Danish director Asger Leth bravely/insanely shoves us into the world of the Chimeres (the eponymous 'Ghosts'), violent gang-bangers armed by then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to defend his regime from mounting dissent. Leth's in-your-face style suits the content, but doesn't always paint the clearest picture.
Determined to give his film the hard edge its subject warrants, Leth (son of veteran film-maker Jorgen) and his co-director Milos Loncarevic leave the viewer feeling under assault from their ragged camerawork and jumpy edits. It's certainly propulsive but makes you wonder if you're watching a gangsta-rap video rather than a documentary. Still, the film does have a genuine hip-hop connection: Haitian-born Fugee-man Wyclef Jean is executive producer, co-soundtracker and even seen briefly on the phone to gang leader/wannabe rapper 2Pac (who makes the movie's defining statement: "In Cite Soleil, never live long. Always die young").
"FEAR, PERIL AND HOPELESSNESS SOAK EVERY FRAME"
Leth sticks closely to 2Pac and his brother Bily, observing the love triangle they share with French aid worker Lele. There is, an extraordinary intimacy between Leth's lens and the sibling duo (he even follows one of them into the shower). Arguably the film romanticises its morally challenged protagonists, but there's little hint of rose-tint in the fear, peril and hopelessness that seem to soak every frame like a cold sweat.
Ghosts Of Cite Soleil is out in the UK on 20th July 2007.
