AllMovie

Few Americans are familiar with the unique strand of Haitian music known as "Rara." A form that originated as a song of injustice and a desperate cry for political freedom, it can be traced directly to the 18th century Africans enslaved by the French on the island, and to those in the late 20th and early 21st centuries still bucking the oppression of local dictatorships. As such, it simultaneously incorporated elements of voodoo ceremonials, protest songs and a carnivalesque atmosphere. Intriguingly (given the large numbers of Haitian immigrants to make the passage to U.S. shores) only one major Rara ensemble cropped up as a longstanding recording act in the United States, christened Djarara and comprised exclusively of Haitian immigrants. The documentary portrait The Other Side of the Water zeroes in on the members of this group, particularly its leader, Pé Yves, who survived periods of intense discrimination and mistrust against Haitians, brutal oppression from American policemen and other authorities, and a host of other dangers and potential setbacks, to continue promulgating Rara to American audiences. The film intercuts archival footage with cinema vérité clips that depict Yves's dogged attempts to spread awareness of Rara in the U.S. - attempts threatened by the arrival of a reinvention of the music and by extreme disapproval of Haitian Christians who perceive Rara as a sneaky and underhanded method of propagating voodoo worship.