“A man repeats all his roads, he repeats them without realizing it, his illusion is that they’re new.”
An American scientist, Victor, travels to Haiti in search of a nearly-extinct amphibian. Many other species have already disappeared, gone to hide or let themselves die out. No one knows exactly why this extinction is happening. A local doctor tells Victor that the mute god Damballah has called the frogs back to the sea: “when Damballah desires it, the great flight will begin . . . The great flight has begun.”
Victor’s object, a mysterious, blood-red frog, is known to live in the Haitian mountains, but every potential habitat he approaches is closed off to him by violent gangs. As the scientist is chased from the mountains, so the earth itself is throwing us off. “You, darkness, enfolding the spirit of those who ignore your glory.” Not everything here is for us to catch, to hold, to study, to know. The other main character, Thierry the local guide, is far more aware of what is truly happening; his words are a poetic elegy to the world and its relationship with us.