What makes a period film worthy of your time and attention span? The abilities of the actors to convince us they are of that time. The abilities of the directors and cinematographer to convince us that the time is real. The extent to which the costumes and setting, along with the acting and directing transport us to the time. If one fails, in my mind, the movie fails.

The director of Heading South, like 300, creates a distant world, but not distant because of space and time, more distant because of perception. In 300, our preconceived notions of ancient Greece give way to the surreality of a time we thought we knew. In Heading South, our preconceived notions of the sexuality of older women, the reality of impoverished 1980s Haiti, and intra- and interracial relations give way to the complex reality that nothing is what it seems. Where 300 is a feast for the eyes and the imagination, Heading South is a feast for the mind and soul. Layer upon layer of social and political confrontations never overwhelm the film and bog it down with heavy-handed moral lessons. Instead, the layers peel away, break off, flake, to reveal the truth of the characters and the truth of the political and social characters in matter-of-fact and sometimes subtle ways.

In Heading South, three middle-aged female tourists experience an unforgettable awakening while visiting impoverished and dangerous 1980s Haiti. Charlotte Rampling’s Ellen is the leader of the pack in a sense, claiming sexual rights to a particular young Haitian boy named Albert. Karen Young’s childish Brenda is the most vulnerable of the three, but no less blind than the others of who they are and where they are. Louise Portal’s hippie Sue is the peacekeeper. All three women come to Haiti with lust and longing in their hearts, taking up with the fine young dark skinned Haitian boys. Of course, when young boys are a plenty, there’s always one that women fight over. Brenda and Ellen vie for the affections for Albert who’s got other personal, social and political concerns that neither Brenda nor Ellen can truly understand although both propose the same solution of taking Albert away from his impoverished life for a better one in America.

What moved me about Heading South is how two worlds and two psycho-social conflicts come to coexist, but only until one world and one conflict attempts to impose their mores on the others. But, somehow, in the end, the clashing of the two worlds and conflicts points out the connection that was always there but was also always missing. The film begins as a story about the sexual longings of older women. These three middle age women are different in their sexual histories but hunger for the same desire to be wanted sexually and otherwise as they leave youth behind and approach seemingly lonely golden years. Brenda was a late bloomer who experienced her first orgasm as a mature adult with a Haitian under-aged, Albert, some years before the story begins; Ellen constantly mourns her lost youth and taut beauty which she seeks to gain back in the affections of a taut young male, Albert; and Sue, though sexually frustrated, is open hearted about her possibilities in her sex life and beyond, though just as concerned about the possible loneliness ahead. While these women are yearning, mourning and reflecting, 1980s Haiti roars with corruption on all levels, crime and intra and interracial tension. Albert lives in the heart of the corruption, crime and racial tension, trying to make sense of it while, at the same time, trying to distance himself from it all by playing the playboy to the white older women (Karen and Ellen included) who come to Haiti to “experience” the culture.

Though the film begins with sex on the brain, it evolves seamlessly about longing, muddled perceptions and regret. You could say that the women and the young boys share the common longing for something better, something less lonely, less ugly than old age and loneliness for the women and repression and the constant threat of death for the boys and impoverished of Haiti. But, perhaps you can’t equate the two? Perhaps the unbearable feeling of being an older woman alone in the world and the unbearable feeling of being a poor Haitian youth whose youth is constantly interrupted by violence, corruption and racial tensions are in fact comparable. Who’s to say? Who’s to not say? What I can say is that Heading South opens your eyes and mind to the truths about our differences. Though we are of different worlds as far as our individual experiences, we share the same feelings and are capable of the same reactions, beauty and ugliness. We’re born into different worlds, but share the same world. There must be overlap somewhere, right?

Heading South is a brilliant piece of art that asks questions more than it answers, or at least just as much. Sounds like life, huh?