Krik? Krak!

“A Wall of Fire Rising” tells the story of Guy, Lili, and Little Guy, a family living in an unnamed Haitian shantytown in the shadow of a sugar mill. Guy bursts into the family home with exciting news, but is stopped by his young son, Little Guy, who has news of his own: He has been cast in a school play. Little Guy has been cast as Boukman, the Haitian revolutionary who is the hero of the play. Guy struggles to see the script in the dim light of their kerosene lamp, and to read the play’s difficult language. As the family prepares for dinner, Little Guy practices his lines, which describe the horrors of slavery before the Haitian revolution. Lili and Guy are deeply moved by their son’s performance. After dinner, Guy picks a wild mushroom growing outside of the family’s tiny shack and puts it in Lili’s hair like a flower. That evening, the family walks past the crowds congregating to watch the state-sponsored news to a hill behind the sugar mill, where they watch the sky. Guy’s favorite spot on the hill is near an old hot air balloon. Guy tells Lili that he thinks he can fly the balloon.