jocelyn

The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum no longer has a video component. However, Voodoo Authentic just two block away and started by one of the former curators of the Voodoo Museum, Brandi Kelly, had copies of “New Orleans Voodoo… from the inside” which they let me watch. The film, directed and produced by David M. Jones is the same film the museums website advertises having.
The movie, copyrighted in 1996, features Voodoo Priestess Ava Kay Jones, Brandi Kelly, the infamous Chicken Man, Alafa Gaidi, Elmer Glover, John T. Martin, and others. It is focused on dispelling the myth that Voodoo is essentially an evil form of devil worship.
The film begins with clips from a 1950’s production about the evil and inhumane practices of Voodoo, such as ritual human sacrifice, hexes and curses, and voodoo dolls as a form of punishing an enemy. Then cut to the early 90’s. Ava Kay Jones is brightly dressed and wearing a tignon (a head dress all free women of color were required to where when Marie Laveau’s time). Using direct address with clips from many interviews the movie gives an overview of Voodoo’s origins.
Voodoo, explains Ava Kay Jones, originated in Costal West Africa, namely Benin and Southwest Nigeria. Elmer Glover (Boka) tells the audience, “Voodoo is an evolution of African shamanism which has been recreated in the western world, mainly in Haiti. Voodoo is really a generic term for a number of metaphysical practices.” The movies transitions are mostly fades. The soundtrack is drumming and some faint singing which is the background to almost the entire movie. The only time the music stops is when reenactments are done, or real ceremonies are recorded.
Most of the shots in the movie are short shots and the pace seemed a bit fast. I had the luxury of being able to pause the DVD which I took advantage of. The movie explains the relationship of Voodoo to other earth-based religions, an idea brought up in much of the reading I have done. The Loas or Urisha (spirits – name differs depending on location) are personifications of the four elements.
Brandy Kelly argues, “People fear Voodoo because there is so little accurate information about Voodoo that the general public is exposed to.” Voodooists have been persecuted, books have been banned, and the Chicken Man was arrested for biting the head off a chicken. The movie argues that the public perception of Voodoo has caused the practice of Voodoo to be much more personal and individual than it was in the past.
The movie overall established a strong set of arguments for the reclaiming of Voodoo as an ancient religion, mind you one that has changed and adapted over time. In many ways through this study I have started to see Voodoo as the religion of a First Peoples, both crippled and enriched, and undeniably altered by slavery and relocation. The movie was good but I still felt it pandered to the tourist allure of spooky voodoo.