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Papa Machete (2014)

★★★½ — Papa Machete (2014)

Jonathan David Kane's short documentary was produced under the banner of Borscht Corp., a Miami-based collective known for championing unconventional, culturally specific short filmmaking, often with minimal resources and a strong focus on Caribbean and Latin American subjects. At just eleven minutes, the film centres on Alfred Avril, a self-styled professor of Tire Machet, the Haitian machete fencing tradition rooted in the country's revolutionary history (Haiti's 1804 independence, won in part by enslaved people armed with agricultural blades, gives the practice a weight that goes well beyond sport or ceremony). Kane made the film as part of a modest but earnest wave of short-form documentary work finding international festival circulation in the early 2010s, a period when digital production made intimate, single-subject portraits genuinely viable outside broadcast commission.

A-Z World Movie Tour Haiti I'm a huge fan of martial arts so learning about Tire Machét was really interesting. I never knew that Haiti was the only successful slave rebellion ever and that slaves armed with machetes pushed back Napoleon's forces. The soundtrack was brilliant and it was awe inspiring to see the students of Alfred Avril sparring with real machetes, complete with facial scars from past skirmishes. Quite informative, well executed, just too short

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2014 | Watched: 2025-06-26

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