Fidel

This film is a must-see for anyone with any interest in the history and realities of Latin America, not just Cuba. It cuts through the packaged press we have always been fed and shows us why the Cuban experience of the last 40 or so years has been what it is. It clarifies the role of the USA in Cuba in a way we have not been permitted to see in the past. Bravo, Estela Bravo!

Love him or hate him, it can scarcely be denied that Fidel Castro was one of the most significant political figures of the 20th century, and he will be spoken of well into the twenty-first and beyond. Estela Bravo's documentary FIDEL, THE UNTOLD STORY, is unabashedly pro-Castro, but in a country which features political discourse of such diminished level men like George W. Bush can become president of the United States, perhaps it is a fortunate thing that a film maker has produced a work that offers insight not only into Castroism, but to the appeal it has long held in different corners of the Americas and the world. For better or worse, Fidel Castro for much of his life has walked much of his talk as regards the creation of a world in which nations on the periphery no longer have to exchange their resource on terms favorable to the most powerful countries. For millions of people in the so-called Third World, he is a hero, and it is ironic that in the United States- which claims the most open exchange of ideas and information of any civilization anywhere in the history of the world- there is so very little understanding of Castro, or the Cuban phenomenon. Well, Estela Bravo offers us a film that provides a little clarity on the question. As a high school teacher, I can appreciate the discussion this work will spark, and I recommend it highly. Sympathetic though Bravo's work is, she picks up on a truth about Casro that George Orwell once spoke of Gandhi: there are a great many politicians in this era, in our world who will leave behind them nowhere near so clean a smell as will Fidel. And that's pretty sad, but it's true.

Not everyone's piece of cake, paradoxically,teaches much about the US's own propaganda efforts, by depicting Cuba's attempt at countering it with its own pro-Fidel twist.

Not a movie that will be taken lightly by Cuban exiles, but good documentary sequences by themselves make it worthwhile. And some previously undisclosed information on the USA-Soviet Union accord which lead to the 1963 missile disarmament in Cuba in exchange for the US withdrawal of its Turkey stationed missiles and agreement not to invade Cuba.

Of course, this accord did not cover the numerous attempts at Fidel's assassination by the CIA, as well as the US execution of Chile's democratically elected President Allende, facts now overtly displayed in the CIA's Washington DC museum.

Makes one wonder. There is no Universal good country or bad country. Even visions of the conflicts between cowboys and Indians were much tainted by shining badges under broad white hats imposing justice at a rope's end to the original American savages. Politically incorrect term Natives seems to be much in vogue, deep roots of prejudice, notwithstanding.

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.

There are so many documentaries that talk about how horrible Fidel is, all of the abuses and crimes that Fidel has committed since the Revolution, how the Cubans are so unhappy and mistreated, etc. It's easy for people in the United States to think that no one likes or admires Fidel. This documentary helps explain why he has supporters. Yes, it's a sympathetic look at Fidel and Cuba, and it makes Fidel seem charming. But, there are lots of people in the world who think he IS charming, and don't think of him as a monster. Estela Bravo isn't alone in her admiration. It's interesting to see another perspective and understand that there are two sides to every story. I'm tired of seeing everything slanted from the perspective of Cuban Americans who lost everything in Cuba and hate Fidel with a passion. I think it's healthy to have another perspective, and this film will help you understand the situation between the United States and Cuba more fully.