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MOUNTAINS – Review by Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , ,
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Mountains, director/co-writer Monica Sorelle’s moody, beautifully realized drama, is about daily life and strife, community culture and intergenerational relationships and pursuit of the American dream in Miami’s Little Haiti, a working class residential neighborhood where many West Indian families make their homes.

The story of Mountains centers on Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), a seasoned demolition worker and devoted family man. Xavier dreams of buying a larger, newer, more comfortable house for his wife Esperance (Sheila Anozier), a seamstress and school crossing guard, and their adult son, Junior (Chris Renois), a college drop out who is living with his parents while he pursues a career as a stand up comic — a dead end career as far as Xavier is concerned. Esperance is quietly accepting of Chris’ decisions, but tensions between father and son are heightened not only because of Junior’s expressions of independence, but because that independence rejects some fundamental aspects of Haitian culture — for example, Junior speaks English rather than Creole, his parents’ native and preferred tongue.

Xavier is part of a work crew that’s charged daily with the task of demolishing homes in his rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. His heart is set on purchase of one charming house that has been purchased by a development company and put on the demolition crew’s raze roster. The emotional anguish this causes Xavier is palpable.

All of the actors deliver stunning performances. Sorelle’s pacing allows them time to find the truth of the moment, and the authenticity of their emotions is tremendously affecting. Mountains regales us with a lesson in humanity — one that we desperately need to learn.

The Haitian proverb “Dèyè mòn, gen mòn” (which translates to “Beyond every mountain, there’s another mountain”) captures the spirit of the film and explains its title.

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for AWFJ.org, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, NY Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).