4/5 Fidel- Up Close and Personal
  by Alfred Johnson (boston, ma)
This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Cuban July 26th movement, the 49th anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution and the 41st anniversary of the execution of Ernesto `Che' Guevara by the Bolivian Army after the defeat of his guerrilla forces and his capture in godforsaken rural Bolivia. I have reviewed the life of Che elsewhere in this space. The Cuban Revolution stood for my generation, the Generation of '68, and, hopefully, will for later generations as a symbol of revolutionary intransigence against United States imperialism. Thus, it is fitting to review a biography of Che's comrade and central leader of that revolution, Fidel Castro. Obviously, it is harder to evaluate the place in history of the disabled, but still living, Fidel than the iconic Che whose place is secured in the revolutionary pantheon. The choice of this documentary reflected my desire to review a recent post- Soviet biographic sketch. As always one must accept that most Western biographic sketches have various degrees of hostility to the Castro regime and the Cuban Revolution. The director here, Ms. Borsch, is apparently a second generation Cuban exile in America. Nevertheless, after viewing this sketch I find that it gives a reasonable account of the highlights of Fidel's life thus far and for those not familiar with the Fidel saga a good place to start. To get a more detailed analysis one, as always, then goes to the books to round out a better sense of the subject.

Ms. Borsch obviously differs with my political prospective. Nevertheless she has presented interesting footage focusing on the highlights of Fidel's career; the early student days struggling for political recognition; the initial fights against Batista; the famous but unsuccessful Moncada attack; the subsequent trial, imprisonment and then exile in Mexico; the return to Cuba and renewed fight under a central strategy of guerrilla warfare rather than urban insurrection; the triumph over Batista in 1959; the struggle against American imperialist intervention and the nationalizations of much of Cuba's economy; the American sponsored Bay of Pigs in 1961; the rocky alliance with the Soviet Union and the Cuban Missile Crisis; the various ups and downs in the Cuban economy stemming from reliance on the monoculture of sugar; the various periods of Cuban international revolutionary support activity, including Angola and Nicaragua; the demise of the Soviet Union and the necessity of Cuba to go it alone along with its devastating hardships; and, various other events up through the 1990's. All of this is complete with the inevitable `talking heads' experts interspersed throughout the documentary giving their take on the meaning of various incidents. There is plenty of material to start with and much to analyze. As mentioned before Che's place is secure and will be a legitimate symbol of rebellion for youth for a long time. Fidel, as a leader of state and a much more mainline Stalinist (although compared with various stodgy Soviet leaderships he must have seemed like their worst Trotsky nightmare) has a much less assured place. Alas, the old truism holds here - revolutionaries should not die in their beds


5/5 Revealing, captivating, impartial
  by Edward Castano (San Francisco, CA)
I grew up in Miami, among the Cuban exile community. For 18 years, my only knowledge of the Cuban revolution and of Castro was based on what I heard people say. However, this film shed new light on my knowledge of the revolution and Castro.

The film begins with archival footage of the revolution, and the narrator stating:

"[Castro] had led a revolution that overthrew a hated dictator. And on January 6, 1959, the day of his triumphant march into Havana, he embodied the hopes of an entire nation."

The film portrays an unbiased but incredibly revealing picture of Castro. You get to know Castro beyond the simple picture of a cruel dictator you have heard about. You learn about him as a charismatic, idealistic dreamer with superior confidence and leadership abilities strong enough to lead a revolution, but you also learn about the micro-manager, with an ego disproportionate to his abilities to manage a nation after revolution.

Regardless of your political views or background, this film will give you an intimate glimpse into the man that many only know as a cigar smoking dictator.

The biography ends with the following lines:

"For more than four decades, Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba, inspiring many visions of a brilliant future, and silencing those that dared to oppose him. Striding across the world stage in a role never intended for the leader of small island, in the shadow of the United States."

"For Cuba, the revolution of January 1959 was a time of glory, a time when all things seemed possible, when an entire nation placed its hopes in just one man."

In its conclusion, the film does not tell you whether Castro's Cuban revolution was an amazing success or an incredible failure. It lets you make up your own mind.

In summary, the vision and execution of this film is superb! You will find yourself captivated for 120 minutes.