Bitter Cane
- Directed by
- Arcelin, Jacques, Haitian
- Subject of
- Duvalier, François, Haitian, 1907 - 1971
- Duvalier, Jean-Claude, Haitian, 1951 - 2014
- Owned by
- D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
- Date
- 1983
- Medium
- polyester film
- Dimensions
- Duration (Reel 1): 35 Minutes
- Length (Film): 1250 Feet
- Duration (Reel 2): 32 Minutes
- Length (Film): 1150 Feet
- Caption
- This film was a part of the Washington D.C. Public Library's circulating 16mm film collection housed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Central Library. The collection is particularly noted for the wide variety of African American and African diaspora content.
- Description
- A documentary film with the title Bitter Cane (Canne amère). It consists of two reels of color 16mm polyester film with optical sound.
- The film opens with a discussion of Haiti's colonial history and the impact of the Haitian Revolution on the country's contemporary economic and political climate. It then goes on to describe the semi-feudalism between Haitian farmers and landowners, the nineteen-year US Marine occupation that resulted in guerilla warfare led by Charlemagne Péralte and the Cacos warriors, as well as subsequent US economic and political interventions.
- Several farm and factory workers in Haiti are interviewed for the documentary. Two of the women interviewed report that they earn approximately $1 or $2 per day, working for a major American textile company with operations in Haiti, while American workers for the same company who are interviewed report that they earn approximately $5 per hour and have been furloughed due to the cheaper wages paid in other countries.
- In the final scenes, asylum seekers detained in New York and Virginia are interviewed. Some report that they are fleeing persecution from the Macoute.
- Place used
- Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
- Place filmed
- Haiti, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
- New York, United States, North and Central America
- Virginia, United States, North and Central America
- Collection title
- DC Public Library Film Collection
- Classification
- Time-based Media - Moving Images
- Topic
- African diaspora
- Agriculture
- Colonialism
- Commerce
- Documentary films
- Film
- French colonialism
- International affairs
- Labor
- Poverty
- Sugarcane
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2017.55.13.1ab
- Restrictions & Rights
- Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.