The Haitian Revolution was a monumental event that transformed the course of world history. From 1791 to 1804, in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue, an enslaved population successfully rose up to overthrow their colonial masters and establish an independent nation. Haiti became the first black republic and the second independent nation in the Americas after the United States. The revolutionaries defeated the French, British and Spanish empires to win their freedom in a struggle that took the lives of tens of thousands.
The Haitian Revolution sent shockwaves throughout the Atlantic world, reshaping the geopolitics of the region and inspiring enslaved and oppressed peoples everywhere. It dealt a major blow to the institution of slavery and the European colonial project. In the words of Trinidadian historian C.L.R. James, author of the classic account The Black Jacobins, "The revolt is the only successful slave revolt in history, and the odds it had to overcome is evidence of the magnitude of the interests that were involved."
Hollywood‘s Haitian Revolution Blindspot
Despite the immense historical significance and inherently dramatic story of the Haitian Revolution, it has curiously remained largely untouched by Hollywood. While films about slave revolts are nothing new for the industry, from Spartacus to Django Unchained, the Haitian Revolution specifically seems to be, in the words of historian Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, "radioactive."
In her book Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games, Sepinwall explores how the economic legacies of slavery and colonialism have shaped cinematic representations of the past. She notes that the film industries in Europe and the United States that control the production of big budget historical epics are still largely dominated by white creators and decision-makers. Black filmmakers who have tried to bring the story of the Haitian Revolution to the screen have faced immense difficulty securing financing and support.
African American director Charles Burnett wrote a script about Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture all the way back in 1970s that was never produced. In the 1980s, Jonathan Demme and Edward Saxon optioned C.L.R. James‘ The Black Jacobins for a film adaptation that never materialized. More recently, Danny Glover has been trying to make a Toussaint Louverture film for over 25 years, attaching directors like Jonathan Demme, Euzhan Palcy and Lee Daniels at various points but never getting the project off the ground.
Glover discussed his decades-long quest to make the film and the resistance he‘s encountered in a 2021 interview with Variety. "Nobody wants to see a movie about a Haitian general who freed the slaves. There‘s no white hero… It‘s been very difficult getting financing for the film because people just don‘t want to see it," he said. Sepinwall sees Glover‘s unsuccessful crusade as emblematic of the wider erasure of the Haitian Revolution from mainstream screens. "The Haitian Revolution has proven just too threatening for Hollywood to take on," she argues.
Video Games Step Up
While Hollywood has failed to give the Haitian Revolution its cinematic due, the video game industry has proven a surprisingly more willing and nimble venue for exploring this history. The most prominent example is the 2013 game Assassin‘s Creed IV: Black Flag – Freedom Cry, an expansion pack to the popular action-adventure series developed by Ubisoft Quebec.
Freedom Cry is set in 18th century Haiti and casts the player as Adéwalé, an escaped slave turned Assassin fighting against slavery and oppression. The gameplay involves liberating slaves and battling against ruthless plantation overseers and owners. Cut scenes depict the brutal conditions of slavery in no uncertain terms, forcing the player to viscerally confront the historical reality.
The game was notable for centering a black protagonist and not shying away from the ugliness of slavery. Film critic Evan Narcisse praised Freedom Cry in his review for Kotaku: "The idea that a chapter of black history as tragic, important and ultimately triumphant as the Haitian Revolution could be experienced through a video game is mind-boggling. It‘s also necessary."
Assassin‘s Creed is not the only gaming franchise to take on the Haitian Revolution. Muriel Tramis, recognized as the first black female game designer, created a series of educational games in the late 1980s for the French government that explored the history of slavery and revolt in the Caribbean, including in Haiti. Sepinwall sees Tramis‘ work as significant for offering a rare Afrocentric perspective on the revolution, one informed by her Caribbean heritage.
More recently, the 2021 turn-based strategy game Libre ou Mourir (Freedom or Death), developed by Martinican studio Apetivi Games, is set during the Haitian Revolution and has the player take control of the revolutionary forces. Speaking to its commitment to historical authenticity, the game brought on Guadeloupean historian and professor Jean-Pierre Le Glaunec as a consultant.
The Revolution Will Be Digitized
The fact that some of the most prominent pop culture representations of the Haitian Revolution have come from the video game world rather than film is telling. It points to the enduring marginalization of black history and creators in Hollywood. But it also suggests the unique potential of gaming to explore sensitive and complex histories in an immersive way.
Video games, with their interactive and participatory nature, can place players directly into different subject positions and time periods. They can make arguments and convey experiences in a visceral way that film cannot. Sepinwall believes that as gaming technology continues to advance, with virtual and augmented reality on the horizon, the medium‘s capacity for historical simulation and storytelling will only grow.
This is not to say that games are a panacea or inherently superior to film. Games have their own problematic histories and limitations when it comes to representation. Sepinwall stresses the need for game studios to hire diverse voices and historical consultants to ensure sensitive and accurate portrayals. But she sees a lot of promise in the emergence of more black game developers like Muriel Tramis and the Apetivi Games team creating works that speak to their own histories and perspectives.
Haitian Canadian director Raoul Peck, who has made films dealing with the revolution like 1992‘s The Man by the Shore and 2000‘s Lumumba, encapsulated the importance of representation in a 2017 interview with The Guardian. "We have the right to be in those images," he said. "Too often in the history of cinema we‘ve been excluded from the narrative, or been mere decoration, the background of the story. What we need is the reverse of that history."
The Haitian Revolution‘s virtual absence from Hollywood films is a reminder of how much of history has been excluded from the mainstream narrative. But the video game medium has emerged as an unlikely and exciting space for re-inserting the revolution back into the popular imagination. In a sense, gaming is enabling audiences to play a small part in the unfinished revolution to transform how we see and understand the past. The Haitian struggle for freedom that changed history two centuries ago may have its next staging ground in the digital realm.
