A lasting, mesmerizing masterwork by Mauritian filmmaker Med Hondo's West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty is a counter-cinema approach musical that critically traces the history and legacy of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to deliver a stinging critique of European colonialist imperialism. Hondo brilliantly uses the rhythmic structure of traditional call-and-response music to reinvent the musical form. Also, it reveals the lopsided conflict between the venal and piously self-interested Church/State and sporadic independent revolutionary forces that are ready to explode at any moment. Filmed in an abandoned Renault factory on the outskirts of Paris, the movie reveals the artifact of its making as a meta-critique of slavery as the bedrock upon which French industry, including cinema itself, is built. The Harvard Film Archive completed this restoration using original 35mm pre-print elements and in consultation with the film's Cinematographer François Catonné. (Haden Guest)