Mountains

This film is layered with elements of hope and heartache. It centers on the current events in Little Haiti. The multi-generational experience of this vibrant immigrant segment of Miami is featured. It is unique and yet familiar to anyone in any community facing challenges of gentrification, against struggles for a piece of their American dream.

A historic community of working class families is faced with rapid changes. The future is scary and confusing. Most especially for those who have been displaced from their homeland.

At first glance this film looks to fill a niche. In fact it seems to shine a light on more complex issues faced by all except the very rich or those living in a fantasy world.

Multi-millions.

Red carpets.

Franchises.

Celebrity.

Glamour.

Wealth.

Escape.

These are just a few of the common impressions regularly manufactured by the eminent North American motion picture industry about itself. But more than impressions, these are the lures of hundreds of thousands of striving hopefuls who wish to ascend to the stratospheric heights that the silver screen represents to so, so many. They are constantly beckoned to sell themselves and the world for a mere dollop of that ever-elusive but ever-potent Hollywood nectar.

But does any (feature) filmmaking exist outside of those tall, gilded and highly fortified ramparts? And if it does, what do we make of it? Does the result of approximately equal picture-making labor elsewhere possess the same majesty and seeming importance of the corporate-forged media regularly shoveled over vast distances into our cineplexes and onto our streaming devices? Could it ever? I mean, what is filmmaking sans Hollywood?

Oolite Arts, an arts-supporting non-profit in Miami, began offering an answer in 2018. Amid a dearth of substantial organizational support for local filmmakers in the Magic City, the organization began offering generous residencies and microbudgets (in the amount of up to $50,000) to select local filmmakers in order to produce their first feature-length films. The program continues six years later.

I applied in the inaugural year but I suspect I was disqualified on account of having begun production on my submitted feature project ('For My Sister', which saw completion and release in 2019) before their decision was made. Eager to a fault, I suppose.

Among the chosen creatives of the Cinematic Arts Residency's first year was one Monica Sorelle. Some weeks after the victors were announced, I attended a film screening at Coral Gables Art Cinema of which the selected filmmakers were in attendance. The calm-voiced Monica immediately struck me as mature, capable and determined. I was also charmed to learn that we had both been film students at University of Central Florida (she attended a few years after my time there). Never a sore loser, I wished her good speed on her journey; one which I knew by then was far from a walk in the park for anyone.

Between that interaction with Monica and my next, much transpired: a pandemic, a staggered recovery from said pandemic, my completion of three feature films (including 'For My Sister'), Monica's completion of her debut film 'Mountains' and plenty of maturity, experience and wisdom garnered in both of us, no doubt. The occasion of our second meeting was the 14th Annual Miami Media and Film Market held at Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables earlier this year.

Following a panel of local filmmaking luminaries, of which Monica was one, I used up my Q&A question opportunity to offer a brief, radical polemic to the panel and the audience about the need to support more local, bottom-up filmmaking activity. After the panel was over, I approached Monica and further explained my impassioned view. Monica seemed sympathetic but my main purpose was not necessarily to proselytize but to pleasantly engage and commiserate with another local, microbudget feature filmmaker; especially one whose career was beginning to take off.

Learning of her film achieving nation-wide theatrical distribution, I promised I'd attend the first showing of its kind at Coral Gables Arts Cinema some months later.

Promise kept, I arrived at Coral Gables Art Cinema last Friday with an e-ticket for Monica Sorelle's 'Mountains' - purchased not too long after they became available. In the lobby, I ran into the film's producer Robert Colom, who I would run into regularly at local film events before the pandemic, and enjoyed his familiar amiability. Soon after that encounter, I found Monica and expressed my excitement about the film. She urged me to share my thoughts with her afterward and to "Be nice." Of course!

In 'Mountains', we meet a construction worker and Haitian patriarch Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), his wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier) and their adult son Junior (Chris Renois). The film is set almost entirely within Little Haiti, a culturally rich Afro-Caribbean neighborhood adjacent to Miami's far more upscale urban center. However, as we follow the slice-of-life episodes of Xavier and his family throughout the film, the encroachment of upscale development represents a threat to the very identity, integrity and survival of Little Haiti and its short-strawed denizens. Providing a richly ironic touch and no doubt the genesis point of this entire film idea, Xavier is written as a character with a direct hand in the destruction of his ethnic enclave as a demolition crew member. It's a poignant and thought-provoking premise of which its resulting body could only be rendered as effectively as it is here by someone touched by the reality of this issue - that's Monica Sorelle, a Haitian-American partly raised in Little Haiti.

The dramatic - and even comedic (courtesy of the stand-up stylings of Renois) - performances throughout the film are accomplished, appropriate and effective. The technical quality of the filmmaking is also impressive considering the relatively modest budget of the film. Co-written with Robert Colom, Monica's script translates into a sterling example of a social realist drama; quiet and demure but pulsing with a kind of populist resistance to the familiar, wearying designs of unseen, moneyed interests.

'Mountains', achieved on a microbudget, flies in the face of our country's oligarchic and plutocratic film industry. More crucially, it begs the questions: What else can talent and hard work accomplish with far less means than debt-ridden, cash-hemorrhaging Hollywood? What do we really need to create a memorable, worthwhile couple-o'-hours for an audience of moviegoers? What if every major city and town exhibited the work of their own local filmmakers in their own regional cineplexes? And what if accordingly leveling the playing field broke the enslavement of aspiring filmmakers bound and stifled by Hollywood-sized ambition?

Maybe we're not ready to answer all of these questions just yet. But we'd be damned if we ignore them and fail to realize that the oyster of possibility is pried that much more open with films like 'Mountains'.

Mountains (2023), directed by Monica Sorelle, tells the story of a Haitian demolition worker grappling with the challenge of tearing down his own gentrifying Miami neighborhood while trying to find a new place for his family.

Sorelle's direction shines as she deftly explores the emotional turmoil and ethical conflicts faced by Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), Esperance (Sheila Anozier), and their son Junior (Chris Renois). The film boasts stunning cinematography that beautifully showcases the vibrancy of the Haitian community in Miami, even amid the upheaval of demolition and displacement.

The performances in Mountains are top-notch, especially Atibon Nazaire's portrayal of the demolition worker, which is filled with depth and subtlety. His internal battle between his job and his love for his community is deeply felt, making it easy for viewers to connect with his struggles.

While the film doesn't shy away from the tough realities that marginalized communities endure, it serves as a powerful reminder of the significance of community and the necessity to stand up for our homes and neighborhoods amid rapid change. Sorelle has crafted a remarkable film that will stick with audiences long after they leave the theater.

When an established community (and its associated culture) begins to disappear, its constituents (particularly those who come from an immigrant background) start to experience a palpable sense of passing into oblivion. At the same time, though, some of the residents of those neighborhoods are faced with the dilemma of having to ask themselves, "Am I part of the loss or part of its cause? And, in either case, how do I deal with the outcome and my role in it?" Such is the case for Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), a structural demolition worker who resides in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood with his wife, Esperance (Sheila Anozier), and his adult son, Xavier Jr. (Chris Renois). The community is rapidly and aggressively becoming gentrified with each building that's being bought up and hastily torn down to make room for new development. Xavier relishes the good money he's making from a job whose impact he either can't or won't acknowledge, even when he sees the consequences of what comes from it all around him, his immediate and extended family, and the friends, neighbors and fellow countrymen of this long-settled immigrant community. It ultimately gives him pause to reflect on his past and to give thought to his future and that of subsequent generations of his people. Writer-director Monica Sorelle's debut feature quietly yet powerfully tells a story typical of many urban neighborhoods and the effects such transformations have on the local culture, shown here through a vibrant panorama of sights, sounds, music and colors, as well as the emotions of those who live in these areas. Their expressions of hope, joy, disappointment and regret are poignantly displayed through simple gestures, revealing facial expressions and telling body language, speaking volumes often without saying a word. While the picture can at times feel a little too "slice of life" for its own good (and leaving viewers wondering where the story may be headed), it ultimately conveys its messages through its fine performances, gorgeous cinematography and skillful film editing. As the nominee of two 2023 Independent Spirit Awards (including a win for the director in the competition's "Someone To Watch" Award category), as well as numerous film festival award victories and nominations, "Mountains" is an impressive start for a filmmaker who clearly has much to say and a knack for knowing how to effectively say it, especially when it comes to speaking for those who may not have a readily accessible voice of their own.