Fidel

I was truly fascinated by this film. We have always been taught that Fidel Castro was an evil dictator. I remember hearing about him in the 1960's and formed an image in my young mind that never left until I saw this film. What an eye-opener! I think it should be shown in schools and that every adult who cares about this country should see it also. Why does our country teach us to hate? We have this pretentious, hypocritical image of ourselves that we are the "melting pot", and we are generous to other countries and open-minded and all the other garbage we erroneously believe is true. Good grief. What is wrong with the U.S.?

Loved it. I was 10 years old when Castro kicked out that corrupt dictator Batista. And, this was greeted by elation by the intelligentsia in Manila. After all, the western media lionized him. US educated (New York University?), a lawyer and coming from the landlord class, it was generally assumed that he would be an ally to big business and American strategic interests. The shock came when he confiscated US businesses in Cuba. Then came the media barrage picturing Castro as virtually a reincarnation of Hitler or Stalin. The Philippines then as now, hewed very closely to the US line. But my sympathies were with Castro. What decent Cubans, after all, could accept a Havana dominated by casinos run by American mafia where the nightly entertainment included "fighting fish" (impoverished native Cubans copulating on stage)? Or, having the price of their chief exports - sugar and tobacco - dictated by US banks and trading houses? Worse, to have their country's public utilities like power companies and trains owned and run by foreign corporations? But here it must be clarified that one of Castro's first acts as leader of Cuba was to seek strong economic and strategic ties with the US. It looked like he couldn't get a fair deal which was why he turned to the Soviets who were ever alert to opportunities to undermine US interests.

I didn't know that the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa was largely caused by Cuban support of revolutionary movements in Angola and Mozambique. Nelson Mandela himself acknowledges this in the film where he greets Castro with a touching song and dance.The Boer government realized that the only way to stem the tide of armed black resistance intruding into South African borders was to accommodate black leaders like Mandela.

But for me, the most enlightening moments of the movie came when I saw and heard the young Castro without the beard. He looked and sounded so kind, honest and sincere. Note how he cried and shed copious tears when he announced the names of the abusive US businesses he was confiscating in the name of the Cuban people. He knew then that the ordinary Americans whom he loved and admired were bound to misunderstand his action and view him as an enemy. I am an excellent judge of character based on looks and demeanor.

By the time that I saw "Fidel", I had known about the situation between Cuba and the United States for many years (I think that I first became aware of it when I was about ten). But it was quite fascinating to see Fidel Castro - who turns 81 today - just as a regular man, doing things that anyone else does in his/her daily life; some early footage even shows him without a beard! Along with Castro himself, there are also interviews with people like Harry Belafonte and Sydney Pollack putting in their two cents about him. As for the famous people who have gone to Cuba, I wasn't surprised about Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson and Muhammad Ali, but it was an eye-opener that Ted Turner has gone there (but then again, Ted Turner isn't Rupert Murdoch). Other famous Americans who have traveled to Cuba include Jimmy Carter, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Steven Spielberg.

Now, the Bush administration of course does everything in its power to vilify Cuba. But you know something? Cuba has national health care, Cuba has never invaded any other countries, Cuba has no nukes, and Cuba helped the South African people bring down apartheid. How does the Bush administration plan to respond to that? As it is, that last part brings us to some of the things relating to Cuba since the documentary came out. On September 11, 2001, all flights into and out of the US were canceled, so Cuba offered its airspace to planes that couldn't enter the US. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Cuba offered medical assistance (but the Bush administration naturally refused to answer). And, as we saw in "Sicko", Michael Moore took 9/11 rescue workers there to get medical treatment, and they got quality treatment.

All in all, I staunchly recommend this documentary. Also appearing in it are Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Elian Gonzalez and Che Guevara.

Cuba's Fidel Castro is a survivor. Having outlasted nine U.S. Presidents and survived numerous assassination attempts by the CIA, Castro has ruled Cuba for 43 years and, whether you love him or hate him, he must be considered one of the most important political figures of the 20th century. Fidel, a documentary by Cuban-American journalist, Estella Bravo, is a sympathetic portrait of the Cuban leader that was commissioned by Channel 4 in Britain, and won the Distinguished Achievement for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking from the Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. The film spans a period of 40 years of Castro's rule from his early childhood and college days to his Presidency of Cuba and includes interviews with Harry Belafonte, Nelson Mandela, Alice Walker, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Sydney Pollock, and others. Rare footage shows him swimming with his bodyguards, working in the fields cutting sugar cane, visiting his childhood school, hanging out with Ted Turner and Jack Nicholson, and talking with Elian Gonzales, the six-year old boy who became a rallying point for Cuban exiles in Miami.

Released from prison after serving two years of a fifteen-year sentence, Castro took a ragtag army of volunteers and recruited farmers, women, and working people in the mountains to fight a decade-long guerilla war that led to the overthrow of American-backed Fulgencio Batista and his takeover of Cuba in 1959. Unfortunately, Ms. Bravo shows us very little of the war or the reasons behind the popular uprising (better depicted in the Russian film I Am Cuba). Once in power, Castro began a series of agrarian reforms that included nationalizing the foreign refineries, seizing U.S. owned businesses such as Chase Manhattan Bank, United Fruit Company, and Texaco Oil. Added to that, American dismay at the mass trials of those who opposed the revolution led to the establishment of the U.S. embargo in 1960 and Castro's embrace of the Soviet Union, the establishment of a Communist dictatorship, and the suspension of democratic elections.

Though at times revealing, I found Fidel on the whole to be overly simplistic. Ms. Bravo extols Castro's virtues on almost every front including his support for free health care including surgical procedures unavailable in other Third World Countries, and Cuba's universal education for all its citizens up to the tertiary level. These accomplishments are important, yet many contentious issues are simply ignored. Bravo never mentions that homosexuality was considered counterrevolutionary and subject to imprisonment and forced labor until 1988 nor the Human Rights Watch Report in 2000 that states that Cuba has routinely imprisoned and/or harassed "peaceful opponents of the government". I recognize that many of the well documented abuses have come about because of Castro's desire to protect the revolution, knowing full well that the U.S. has channeled millions of dollars to dissidents in hopes of destroying it, yet these are issues that cry out for fuller examination. While Castro has become a symbol of courage and independence for millions of Third World people, he is neither saint nor demon, but a man of deep contradictions and complexities whose full story waits to be told.

An illuminating documentary on Fidel Castro and his accomplishments: his overthrow of the ruthless dictator Batista, his accomplishment in providing universal health care and education for the Cuban people (a population largely illiterate before the Revolution), his fights against racism and tyranny both at home and abroad (2000 Cubans died fighting apartheid in S Africa). Commentary by Castro supporters such as Nelson Mandela, Alice Walker, Sydney Pollack, Muhammad Ali, and others.

Whether you love or hate the man, the documentary provides us with a perspective that US government and the Miami exiles do not want us to see. Look for it on Ebay!