Disc Reviews
Heading South (2005) | DVD Review
“Both women learn to see themselves as liberal, progressive people who don’t see color, only other people. Only their supposed openness is so extreme it returns to ignorance.”
It is the late 70’s, Haiti. A middle-aged American woman has arrived at a beachside resort for the second time in her life. Brenda (Karen Young) was at this same vacation spot three years earlier, only then she was with her husband. While on the earlier vacation, she and her husband befriended a teenage local boy named Legba (Menothy Cesar). Finding herself alone with Legba, sunbathing on a deserted beach, she reached over to caress the object of taboo desire that lay glistening beside her. Legba was 15 and Brenda was 45. It might have been Legba’s first sexual experience but it was certainly Brenda’s first orgasm. It was impossible to forget. Hence, her return. All of this is shared with the viewer through a documentary-style confession. Writer/Director Laurent Cantet allows each of the film’s major characters their moment to be candid for the viewer. These tiny vignettes break up the beach time where Brenda battles another resort regular, Ellen (Charlotte Rampling), for Legba’s affections. Ellen is even older than Brenda but has embraced her position of privilege and status amidst the locals. As a white woman with money, she can carry on an affair with Legba, without drawing any criticism and she encourages Brenda to do the same. Both women learn to see themselves as liberal, progressive people who don’t see color, only other people. Only their supposed openness is so extreme it returns to ignorance. They don’t accept their black island boy lovers as people; they merely use them as black sexual objects to fulfill their forbidden fantasies.
Albeit awkward at times (why would these two women who hate each other spend so much time sunning together ?), HEADING SOUTH is an intriguing study of class and sexual behavior. The DVD however, is not any form of study on the film itself. Aside from a chapter selection, the movie is all you get. The movie is worth a watch but to own it would require a little more frill for me. Just because the producers decided not to give film fans any news of note on the film does not mean I cannot share my personal research on the film with you. It isn’t very much mind you but it’s still more than the DVD has for you. For instance, the film was mostly shot in the Dominican Republic as political events prevented the crew from working in Haiti for more than a week. I cannot tell you what exactly the vague term, “political events” means but suffice it to say, it could not have been good. Secondly, it should be noted that this film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival in 2005, where it lost to Ang Lee’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.
HEADING SOUTH may not be a memorable experience but the caliber of all three of the lead performances make it worth seeing. Cantet is sure to sexualize Legba for the viewer as well so that you can lust from home and hopefully ask yourself a very important question. Is it somehow less racist to declare yourself accepting of black people while sleeping with one just because he is black? You may be eating and drinking together on the beach but you’re putting everyone back in their place in the bedroom.
Movie rating – 3
Disc Rating – 0
