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Heading South (2006) DVD Review
Heading South (2006) DVD Credits:
Heading South (2006) Directed by:
Laurent Cantet
Heading South (2006) Written by:
Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet, Dany Laferrière
Heading South (2006) Cast:
Lys Ambroise, Menothy Cesar, Louise Portal, Charlotte Rampling, Karen Young, Jackenson Diaz
Heading South (2006) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
1
Heading South (2006) DVD Release Date:
6th February 2007
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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Heading South (2006) Synopsis:

On the sun drenched island of Haiti in the '70s, foreigners idle away their vacations in the palm-fringed paradise of the beach hotels. Brenda, Ellen and Sue, three North American women, converge on the island looking for flirtation, relaxation and respite from their colorless jobs and marriages. They find what they are looking for in Legba an enigmatic local adonis whose beauty and passion has them enthralled. It is this passion that will lead them away from the guilded cage of tourism and will open their eyes to the poverty stricken and dangerous world of Haiti at the end of "Baby Doc" Duvalier's notoriously violent regime.

Heading South (2006) DVD Review:

At first glance Heading South looks like a simple romance about three older women on vacation and having affairs with a younger men at the Haitian resort. Despite the cheerful cover and description which may lead you to believe the film may be a foreign romance to rival How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Heading South begins with a frightening scene in which a well dressed man is approached by a middle-aged woman outside a Haitian airport. She gives him a frightening tale of her stolen husband and poor and beautiful daughter who will surely be taken and raped because of her social status and beauty and asks that he take her fifteen-year-old daughter himself, so that she will at least be in better hands. Following this immediately intimate scene we are introduced to Ellen, one of the vacationing women, and we see that the well dressed man is her chauffeur. Heading South is a victim of bad marketing, but the film should not be held responsible for this mistake.

Setting the film in Haiti in the late 1970s gives importance to the particular time that these women decided to take a holiday and adding a layer to the film as well. Ellen (Charlotte Rampling) is a bitter school teacher who has come to the same resort for six years in a row for the entire summer. Brenda (Karen Young) is a recently divorced woman who had her first affair and orgasm on the beaches of Haiti, and has returned free of her husband. Sue (Louise Portal) is a Canadian who has a relationship with one of the young gigolos on the island. Brenda finds the young ma she first abandoned her husband for and he is now selling himself to women on the beach, including Ellen, who is well prepared for competition. Soon the two ladies are each trying to win the attention of the young gigolo who is faced with the harsh reality of the world outside of the resort.

Although I was horribly misled by the polished marketing techniques, I recovered quickly enough and found this tough and gritty film to be far more fascinating than I had expected. Heading South isn’t an easy or even a fun film to watch, although there are certain moments which are extremely mesmerizing. Performances are convincing and real which makes the melodrama easier to swallow.

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Heading South (2006) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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