Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
The Pierced Heart & the Machete
TITLE DETAILS

The Pierced Heart & the Machete

2012-12-01 · 71 min · Not rated

Documentary

The Pierced Heart & The Machete is a vivid, unflinching exploration of two annual Vodou pilgrimages in Haiti. The first is for Èzili Danto, goddess of love, art and passion; worshipers from all over the world descend on the southwestern town of Ville-Bonheur to bathe in the sacred waterfall where Dantò resides. The second pilgrimage is for Dantòs' husband Ogoun, god of war, iron and healing. It takes place at the end of July in the northern town of Plaine du Nord, where practitioners bathe in a mud pool and make flamboyant sacrifices. This beautifully shot film offers disorienting yet illuminating glimpses of the contradictory and complementary aspects of these two lwa, the electrifying rites that honor them, and the intense music that accompanies these ecstatic and bloody ceremonies.

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
Olivia Wyatt
Production companies
Sublime Frequencies
Countries
United States of America, Haiti
Status
Released

Top Cast

Cast unavailable.

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Availability not listed for this country.

Recommendations

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
★ 7.1
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple2006Documentary

Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.

Fuck
★ 6.4
Fuck2006Documentary

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Naqoyqatsi
★ 6.2
Naqoyqatsi2002Documentary

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
★ 7.3
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God2012Documentary

Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.

Deliver Us from Evil
★ 7.2
Deliver Us from Evil2006Documentary

Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.

Jim: The James Foley Story
★ 7.4
Jim: The James Foley Story2016Documentary

In August, 2014, a video of the public execution of American photojournalist James Foley rippled across the globe. Foley wore an orange jumpsuit as he knelt beside an ISIS militant dressed in black. That image challenged the world to deal with a new face of terror. And it tested one American family. Seen through the lens of filmmaker Brian Oakes, Foley’s close childhood friend, Jim takes us from small-town New England to the adrenaline-fueled front lines of Libya and Syria, where Foley pushed the limits of danger to report on the plight of civilians impacted by war.

Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes
★ 6.0
Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes2021Documentary

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.

Capital in the Twenty-First Century
★ 6.5
Capital in the Twenty-First Century2019Documentary

Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
★ 6.4
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library2017Documentary

A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.

Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea
★ 7.2
Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea2026Documentary

Never-before-seen footage and survivor accounts trace the 2012 shipwreck of a luxury cruise and the disaster that ensued, in this immersive documentary.

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty
★ 7.8
As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty2000Documentary

A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.

Baraka
★ 8.2
Baraka1992Documentary

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

My Mom Jayne
★ 8.0
My Mom Jayne2025Documentary

Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.

Alone in the Wilderness
★ 7.9
Alone in the Wilderness2004Documentary

Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself. The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness.

A Toxic Love Story
★ 6.5
A Toxic Love Story2026Documentary

A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.

Seduced and Abandoned
★ 6.2
Seduced and Abandoned2013Documentary

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Girl Rising
★ 7.0
Girl Rising2013Documentary

Nine filmmakers each profile a young girl from a different part of the world to weave a global tapestry of youth in the 21st century.

South of the Border
★ 6.1
South of the Border2009Documentary

A road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media's misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents.

S4: The Bob Lazar Story
★ 8.4
S4: The Bob Lazar Story2026Documentary

Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity

The Captains
★ 6.4
The Captains2011Documentary

The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.

Similar titles

Le Fils
★ 9.0
Le Fils2024Documentary

Black Zombie
★ 5.0
Black Zombie2026Documentary

From the flickering screens of Hollywood horror, to the haunted cane fields of colonial Haiti, Black Zombie unearths the buried origins of the zombie, reclaiming it as a symbol of survival and spiritual resistance.

Poster unavailable
Not rated
Living memoriesDocumentary

Living Memories is a documentary film that traces the history of the director’s neighborhood and native country, Haiti, through a personal and engaged perspective. Brick by brick, through encounters and wanderings throughout Port-au-Prince’s neighborhoods, archival photos, graffiti, and animations, the filmmaker introduces us to architect Léon Mathon and the residential architecture of the early 20th century. Over the ruins of her family home, Dominique, the director's mother, an architect like her father and grandfather before her, searches through her memories and significant places for traces of the past and the history of her country. Many of her landmarks are no longer there. From this tragedy arises a quest — a need to reconnect memory and history to understand the present better. The filmmaker follows her mother during her journey, capturing her reflections and conversations and documenting them to bring memories back to life.

UFOs Masonry and Satanism in the Occult Social Order
Not rated
UFOs Masonry and Satanism in the Occult Social Order2005Documentary

What do UFOs, witchcraft, Mormons, voodoo, Freemasons, satanism, H.P. Lovecraft, and several other curiosities have in common? You guessed it, aliens! Allow 9th degree Crackpot Bill Schnoebelen to take you on his dark journey from the giant creature-ridden wastes of the Wisconsin fields to sacrificial pain alters on the moons of Saturn and beyond. Recorded during the Ancient of Days conference in Roswell, NM in 2005.

Baseball in the Time of Cholera
★ 6.0
Baseball in the Time of Cholera2012Documentary

As a Cholera epidemic rages in Haiti, the United Nations denies it is responsible for introducing the disease despite glaring evidence suggesting Nepalese peacekeepers are to blame. Baseball in the Time of Cholera is the story of a young Haitian boy who plays in Haiti's first little league baseball team and the Haitian Lawyer seeking justice against the UN. As the epidemic spreads, the two stories intersect in the struggle for survival and justice.

Dayendji - Vida de Imigrante
Not rated
Dayendji - Vida de Imigrante2024Documentary

Nan Lakou Kanaval
Not rated
Nan Lakou Kanaval2014Documentary

A 16mm visual and auditory exploration of the Haitian carnival. A hallucinatory and unparalleled carnival. Made in collaboration with students from the Cinema Institute in Jacmel, Haiti, and based on a poem by the young Haitian poet Gabriel Wood Jerry.

Witchcraft '70
★ 5.4
Witchcraft '701969Documentary

Witness devilish rituals from around the globe. Satanism! Voodoo! Majicks Black and White! Shocking Truths, etc.!

Art: By Any Means Necessary
Not rated
Art: By Any Means Necessary2024Documentary

Follows the defiance of two art institutions in the Caribbean: one closed but squatted by artists, the other fighting to stay open. Against the backdrop of political strife, Haitian and Guadeloupean artists grapple with the concept of freedom in their battle to preserve their spaces.

Poster unavailable
Not rated
Haiti: Where Did the Money Go2012Documentary

Shot in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the documentary looks at what really happens with the money donated to help with disaster aid.

Disaster Capitalism
★ 8.7
Disaster Capitalism2018Documentary

A documentary that reveals the underbelly of the global aid and investment industry. It's a complex web of interests that span the earth from powerful nations and multinational corporations to tribal and village leaders. This documentary offers unique insights into a multi-billion dollar world by investigating how aid dollars are spent.

The Downfall of an Island
Not rated
The Downfall of an Island2026Documentary

A documentary that explores the complex shared history and current sociopolitical state between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Stateless
★ 5.0
Stateless2020Documentary

Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows families of those affected by the 2013 legislation stripping citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent, uncovering the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the grassroots electoral campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris.

Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre
★ 10.0
Aimé Césaire, Un homme une terre1976Documentary

Alternating interview segments, shots of Martinique landscapes and scenes from Aimé Césaire's play La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963), Sarah Maldoror portrays her friend as a politician, a poet, and a founder of the Négritude movement.

Through Your Eyes
Not rated
Through Your Eyes2026Documentary

In an effort to understand where she came from, Fabiola asked a question that became the central phrase of the film: what would my life have been like if I'd stayed in Haiti? Taking as her starting point her biological mother's precarious economic situation, she had no choice but to entrust her daughter to her care. Fabiola could have ended up restavek, or in a loving foster family, or on the streets abandoned to her fate, or adopted abroad.

La Belle Vie: The Good Life
Not rated
La Belle Vie: The Good Life2015Documentary

La Belle Vie: The Good Life takes a look into a filmmaker's journey to discover her Haitian roots by examining the complexities of the Haitian society but also chronicles her voyage to find hope in this nation on the brink of a new Haiti.

Sweet Micky for President
★ 6.8
Sweet Micky for President2015Documentary

Music and politics collide when international music star, Pras Michel of the Fugees, returns to his homeland of Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2010 to mobilize a presidential campaign for Haiti's most controversial musician: Michel Martelly aka Sweet Micky. The politically inexperienced pair set out against a corrupted government, civil unrest, and a fixed election. When Pras's former bandmate, superstar Wyclef Jean, also enters the presidential race, their chances seem further doomed. But with the help of a few friends, including Ben Stiller and former president Bill Clinton, they never give up on their honest dream of changing the course of Haiti's future forever

1964: Kamoken Cemetery
★ 5.0
1964: Kamoken Cemetery2023Documentary

In 1964, following the landing of around thirty men intent on overthrowing him, the Haitian dictator Duvalier launched a campaign of terror to deter peasants from joining the rebellion, composed of men from the Southeast region where they had settled. Over 50 years later, the peasants recount their story for the first time.

Madame Pipi
Not rated
Madame Pipi2021Documentary

Madame Pipi follows the personal journeys of female Haitian bathroom attendants in Miami’s hottest nightclubs and their support to Haiti through their tips.

Poster unavailable
★ 3.7
35 Cows and a Kalashnikov2014Documentary

35 Cows and a Kalashnikov is a joyously made triptych about warrior-farmers, colorful dandies and voodoo wrestlers in Ethiopia, Brazzaville and Kinshasa. It paints a loving and attentive portrait of African pride and beauty.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.