Brilliantly novel, morally bankrupt
Top marks for taking on such a new and uncharted subject. With larger numbers of women in Western society having difficulty finding suitable partners and the practice of men in those societies leaving their older partners for younger women, this brand of sex tourism must certainly have flourished since the late 1970's in which the film is set. And more so.
But why so much whitewash? This is prostitution, exploitation, sexism, racism with all of the disgusting ugliness that many in Western society attach to the practice when it is the old unattractive fat white men seeking sexual pleasure with impoverished young negro, latino or asian women. From the scene in which the boys are made to sit around the women at the beach as if they were dogs being fed from the table, the recounted story of the sexual abuse of Legba as a minor by Brenda on her first visit, to her obscene arrogance in concluding that Legba actually derived any sense of joy in his role as her paid escort. In all this we see the treatment of people as animals, and the belief by the abusers that this treatment is a true expression of kindness.
So does this mean we should now ease up on all the male sex tourists? Well that's up to you. But this is one area were a distinction between males and females certainly can't be justified.
Were these women lonely, vulnerable, emotionally maimed by the cruelty of the societies from which they came? Most probably. Did they inflict their misery on the young Haitians with whom they came into contact? Definitely.
Hopefully some viewers will draw their own conclusions about the inner ugliness of the female characters, but the screenplay certainly let these women off far too lightly.