Change and Rollin Josh Brolin

Change. A new president. A first. The first black president in American history. As President Obama alluded to in his inauguration speech, his father (and him) would not have been served at many restaurants as little as 60 years ago because of their skin color. I lived in South Africa ten years ago, not that far removed from apartheid. Change came swiftly and quick, but after so long it was past due. A Pepsi commercial that ran repeatedly during the inauguration showcased The Berlin Wall coming down with a sledgehammer wielded by a youth ready, bursting with the energy of a bright new day. There is a certain force that creates the engine necessary for sweeping change to happen. Often times it's a perfect storm and more often than not the storm comes from the power of people, a critical mass that moves the needle past the breaking point.


Josh Brolin and Haitian women being photographed by Michael Stahl David

I have a nickname for Josh Brolin. Rollin Brolin. He lives it. Life. Full on. Even when I saw him relaxing it was like the guy was moving. And all while in Haiti he moved. I came off the plane, was dropped off at the hospital and right into the back of a Tap Tap off to Cite Soliel. Jimmy, Josh, Paul Haggis, Dianne Lane, Maria Bello and Bryan Mooser were in the back. "Welcome", "hey", "you ready for this"...so many open greetings. And off we went, Jimmy and Josh hanging off the back. Josh took it further. One leg hanging, rocks popping from tires, dust in face, dusk settling in, I couldn't have written a better narrative.


Jimmy Jean Louis, Josh Brolin

And when we landed off he went, straight into the waiting and anxious crowd of children. And there was embracing and love and smiles and joy.



That was everyone, but he was the first, off like a rocket. That was Josh the entire trip. Full throttle. Stories, and discovery and fun and lows and highs, it all resonated and registered easily by watching Rollin. Why do roles that range from cowboy, to sadistic megalomaniac, to two time loser, to President, to internally tortured politician ( not the same role, but...)come across with honesty and truth, delivered with clarity and passion, depth and compassion. Say what you want, he is one hell of an actor. And passionate yes, compassionate...he didn't hesitate when it came time to give a hand or hug or reach out to all who reached out to him and those that didn't as well.


photo courtesy of Stefano Guindani (incredible photographer, story later)

I spoke with a young documentary filmmaker that was on the plane with him on the way to Haiti. He was on the way to shoot his first documentary. Josh told him to show up at one of the functions we attended and gave him an incredible interview. At Father Rick's Josh was one of the first to move 100 pound bags of rice used to feed the hungry and one of the last. Full throttle. Say what you will, the proof is in the action. And congrats sir on your Oscar nomination.


photo courtesy of Stefano Guindani

Energy. Much has been directed. Change. It may come slowly, maybe slower than we want, but it can come. What it takes is action, not just talk. Energy, directed, focused and consistent. Passion, compassion, heart and soul.

A shot in the dark. Hope shines through.

There were many heartbreaking experiences while in Haiti. There is much poverty. But there is much hope as well. Just like anywhere I've lived in the world, the human spirit has a way of rising through obstacles. All we know is circumstance. Some are born with incredible monetary wealth. Some, like the lost tribe in the Amazon that was reportedly discovered last May know their environment and not much of the modern world. But were they really lost? I think they know where they're at. That leads me to the point of this post. We know our experience.

One great moment for me was when we were heading to Jakmel. The incredible photographer Marc Baptiste decided to stay in the back of one of the trucks for a while to shoot photographs on the way up.


Marc Baptiste


photograph courtesy of Marc Baptiste


Jimmy Jean Louis

Jimmy decided to do the same and I did as well. Again, one of the better experiences of my life. Marc had a bottle of 22 and we rode through Port-au-Prince and up to Jakmel shooting photo's, video and having a great time.

Marc is from Port-au-Prince and at one point we passed the area where he is from there. He pointed it out and told us this great story about how he got a scar on his face playing around in the streets of Port-au-Prince. He told me he had no idea he would even go to America, less become a famous photographer.

By that time I had already gone with Jimmy to where he was born and heard many stories about him growing up, met his Aunt who was great and some of his old friends. Jimmy had no electricity while growing up as a young boy. He told me he didn't even have a concept of what acting was while growing up in Haiti.

The world to them at that time was Haiti. When I was in Cite Soliel in the middle of one of the roughest parts, I was shooting video and heard a little kid maybe about 7 or 8 rapping. Rapping. I walked or should I say creeped over and started filming him like I've done on so many big music artists. And the boy started performing like so many artists. I jacked up the volume with a beat box and a crowd started to form. Bryn Mooser came over and started beat boxing too and next thing I knew there was a huge crowd almost concert like of kids and women and men and the kid was performing like he was at Madison Square Garden. He had on if I can remember correctly (this will be in the documentary, but we haven't made it to this tape yet so don't quote me)a Michael Jordon basketball jersey. Now we were in the middle of heaps and piles of garbage, pigs and goats and fires and piles of people on piles and there was this kid giving his heart. Giving his all. And all that disappeared. The piles became stands, the people became fans. He was at that time as good as any I've seen or at least had as much soul. He was the Michael Jordon, the Jay Z, the Rakim or TuPac of his city at that moment. He may have some of the troubles we hear so much about in developing countries, but at that moment he was brilliant and shining, a star. In the middle of the middle of Haiti. He most certainly knew a lot more than his immediate surroundings. He knew the world of rap music enough to do it as well as most. But he still hasn't been touched. Or that's at least what the statistics say. 70 percent illiteracy rate. Maybe he wasn't one in that number, but there are so many.

That could have been anyone really. In the Amazon, or on Heroes, or into wealth, or in the middle of the middle of Haiti. You could be reaching out, reaching so hard into a void, a black hole screaming for help. That kid may become a great rapper, or actor or photographer or wealthy beyond imagination. The odds may say no, but the odds have been wrong so many times. Scales balance, the cycle completes itself, guards change in ways never conceived. And anything can happen. Anything. Nothing is lost if never ventured to gain. And shots, even in the dark are worth it if to save just one. Most need that shot at least once in their lives.

Project Medishare, The Coral Gables Congregational Church and Lambi Fund of Haiti

Project Medishare, The Coral Gables Congregational Church and Lambi Fund of Haiti partnered for an incredible initiative.

Click here or copy and paste: http://projectmedishare.wordpress.com/

The wind of change is blowing strong. Internal change, external range.

Haiti is suffering

This article entitled "Misery in Haiti" says it all:

http://www.miamiherald.com/1374/story/849297.html

Father Rick, Michael Stahl David, Jimmy Jean Louis, Connection

I've mentioned Father Rick on a few posts before. Since he was mentioned so heavily in the first post of this blog, I felt it might be prudent to touch on some of the other experiences before I got back to him. He is quite incredible. But first a bit about the film.

Nou Sove and the companion documentary Sove Nou are about discovery. What has happened in Haiti? What is happening? What does the future hold? Without understanding the past, how can we find the future? The films were not done to give the answers, to present a solution. There is too much there to even try to approach. What they are trying to relay is a broader discussion, to seek understanding.

Michael Stahl David is an extremely talented actor. For my company KijiK, we put Cloverfield as one of our top ten movies of 2008, not because Michael was one of the stars, but because it posed questions, made us think. What if? What drives people to react in dire circumstances?

What I think makes Michael such a great actor is the quest for understanding. I feel he reaches his character through that exploration, the motivation of the character. I felt I connected with Michael in part because of his quest for understanding while we were in Haiti. He explored more than many I've seen in my travels. There were times when the group was moving to the next stop and Michael would be across the street, or in an artists studio, or so engaged in conversation with someone (even though there was a language barrier), we would be gone for a long period without realizing he wasn't with us. I feel he was totally engaged with Haiti and that the people he connected with were engaged with him, drawn to him.

Jimmy is the main focus of Nou Sove in part because I feel he is Haiti. He is connected like no other to the country. His connection is evident in every character he plays, but also I feel in his life. He lives every moment for the moment.


And that brings me to Father Rick. Connection. He started an orphanage 20 years ago. He now presides over the largest pediatric hospital in Haiti and all of the Caribbean, the largest orphanage, the only clean water available to thousands of people and a school system that reaches into the poorest and most crime ridden areas in the country.



I was blown away by his ease from place to place. At the hospital he directed the opening of a new branch while we were there and the daily operations of the facility.






The next day he was giving away tons of food at a drop off point in Cite Soliel. He guided us through Wharf City and the slums in Cite Soliel, where only a few years ago the police and military would not go for even an hour. And they love him. All reaching out to him as we walked, not as a deity, but as a fellow man, human. And the schools in the middle of Wharf City. Incredible.



Connection. We are all born into a set of circumstances, some more favorable than others (at least on the surface). But who knows what circumstance one could have been born under. And in this time of crisis, where people are losing so much it's more relevant than ever. Walk a mile in another's shoes. Maybe connecting isn't so far fetched. Haiti is only two hours away.