Sucre amer is a dense and intensely interesting historical fiction whose aim is blatantly to restore French Antillian memory, which was erased by its metropolitan replacement. The film’s other major objective is to show that understanding Guadeloupe’s History helps in understanding the History of France! In short, the director’s objective is to both portray and to analyse. In order to achieve his clearly pedagogical objective, Lara recounts the story of Ignace (the ever-wonderful Jean-Michel Martial), a freed slave who becomes a commander of the French army. He is accused of high treason for rising against Napoleon’s army when he restored slavery, which had previously been abolished by the Convention. The film is a remake of Vivre libre ou mourir that Lara had made in 1980 on a small budget. Being dissatisfied with the original, he uses the same tecniques in Sucre Amer, alternating historically accurate scenes with meetings run by a fictional modern-day Tribunal of History that puts (in American fashion) France’s colonisation of its overseas territories on trial. However, in the second film Lara also adds a third situation, the gathering of the jurors, for the most part characters (in costume) from the History of Guadeloupe. The fragmentation of the film across three locations, and lengthy dialogues during the deliberations, render the film dense but not confusing because the main issue, « Did Ignace really betray his country? », remains clearly identifiable. In short, is rebellion against racism and intolerance legitimate? The witnesses are from various periods from History, and we can pretty much anticipate what their reaction will be.
1998, 90 mn, 35 mm colour, 1.85 dolby stereo SR, Guadeloupe, historical fiction, camera: Jean-Michel Humeau, prod. Guadeloupe Film Cie/les Films Stock internat./RFO, with Jean-Michel Martial, Robert Liensol, Anne-Marie Philipe, Gabriel Gascon, Marc Michel, Maka Kotto, Eric Vu-An, Marie Verdi, Xavier Letourneur, Philippe Mourouvin, Dominic Allen, Renée Voltaire, Philippe Lemercier, Luc Saint-Eloy, Eugénie Louis-Joseph. In French cinemas 29 May 2002.
