Fidel: The Untold Story
by Estela Bravo
List Price:
Our Price: $26.99
You Save: $2.96 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $17.00 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Eli??n Gonz??lez (II), Fidel Castro, Harry BelafonteDirector: Estela Bravo
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Surround Sound, THX, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: FIRST RUN FEATURES
DVD Reviews of Fidel: The Untold Story
DVD Review: A rare appraisal... clearly intended to balance the predominant view of Castro...
Summary: 4 Stars
First off I have to say I agree with another viewer, when he wrote, "... This documentary shows a perspective not often represented by the mainstream media and I appreciated it very much." I cannot think of a single world leader who made a mark in history that hasn't done both good and awful things along the way... but that doesn't mean, ideological opponent or not, that we should denigrate major accomplishments, like deposing a hopelessly corrupt regime, providing a nation with social services and medical care where none existed before. When we let the ideological blinders fall before our eyes, we run the risk of underestimating opponents, trusting self-interested people who parrot our own party line, missing opportunities for constructive change, and betraying our own principles. Now more than any other time, when we're entering a multi-polar world, and have a woefully damaged economy to repair at home, we have to access the good and bad in highly placed people on "the other side" of any potential conflict with clear-eyed rationality, realism and fact-based historical perspective. And documentaries like this, can only help us, as the world moves away from a US dominated international system.DVD Review: Fidel: The Untold Story
Summary: 5 Stars
Very good film, everyone should be able to see both the bad side of Fidel which we read about in our history books and see in the media, and the good which I got to see for the first time in this film. Only then can we draw our own conclusions and stop being puppets who only believe what the media wants us to believe. Very insightful movie and very easy to understand.DVD Review: Obvious Bias and Agenda
Summary: 1 Stars
The video is totally onesided and ignores tons of facts to show Fidel as a romantic revolutionary hated by a select few.All the people interviewed are either of the Castro family or the people that benefited from his regime. It also paints the exile cubans as a small extremist minority in Miami. A huge point totally ignored is the fact that his own daughter defected to the United States and is one of his strongest protesters. I was born in the United States and both of my Parents are from Cuba. It was insulting to hear how "great" the dictator was portrayed. It was also comical to hear that any problem in Cuba is because of the Embargo, not Fidel's Communist regime. You can't blame the embargo on the fact that there has not been free elections in 45 years, you cant blame the embargo on the Human rights atrocities, you can't blame the embargo on the thousands of "political" prisoners.
To make matters worse, "educated" journalists and low lives from America praise Fidel's achievements. It strikes me as incredibly ignorant seeing that these people praise fidel from the comforts of the US. This video is just as much a documentary as Farenheit 9/11
DVD Review: True Propaganda.
Summary: 1 Stars
This movie was somewhat astounding to me as, from the very beginning, it makes a point of depicting Fidel Castro in the kindest of lights. We see him as a man and a man alone which, frankly, is not an honest way to portray him. Certainly, humanizing him is appropriate as a human being is exactly what this mass murderer is, but to treat him as an underdog is to miss the real point of his reign--regardless of what Harry Belafonte might think. The increased poverty and suffering of the Cuban population that he produced is what should be remembered first and foremost. I refer viewers to Ron Radosh's memoirs if they'd like to know what its like in Cuba in the eyes of a disinterested third party or the other excellent works written about him like Against All Hope or Inside the Pirate's Den. In Cuba today, the arrests continue as does Castro's repulsive totalitarian regime. I do not wish death upon Mr. Castro, but hope Revolucion! ends as soon as possible. DVD Review: Misleading, Inaccurate and Grossly Distorts the Truth
Summary: 1 Stars
Being an American myself who has actually visited Cuba within the last year, I find the other reviews of this documentary to be completely misguided. Like them, I first saw this documentary and believed that Castro wasn't actually such a bad guy, but that the U.S. and Cuban exiles were biased and portrayed him as a monster. When I met several Cuban exiles who emotionally told me the stories of how they had their houses taken away by Castro and how their parents were tortured and placed in rat-infested prisons for simply expressing their support democracy, I thought these Cuban exiles were exaggerating. However, after I visited Cuba last year, I have to painfully admit that these people were correct in the stories they told me. I went to Cuba expecting to see racial equality, free healthcare and free education, as people like Ted Turner and Steven Spielberg had claimed existed in Cuba. What I learned from actually speaking to people in Cuba during my trip was a competely different picture from that portrayed of Castro in this documentary. Not to mention, I expected to see beautiful, exotic buildings. However, what I actually saw was building after building in Havana crumbling, with no electricity and on average, there were five to six families living in one two-story house. In one house I visited, the roof was partially torn off, one family of three lived under the staircase, two families lived in the kitchen, and three families lived upstairs, which consisted of two bedrooms and one closet. Very, very sad. Each day they had to wait in a line for two hours to just to get one ration of bread and rice. When I asked one of the mothers about the school system she explained that all children who attended were required to denounce any "counterrevolutionary activity" they saw at home to their teachers. As a result, many Cuban parents went to jail because one of their children notified authorities that their parents were "disagreeing" with the government some way. Imagine being placed in jail because U.S. law states your child must tell his third grade teacher he overheard you say "I disagree with the Iraq war and dislike President Bush" at your kitchen table. I also learned that when school children participate in a government march for the communist party they're given a coupon, which must be given to their teachers the following day to prove they participated. If they don't turn in their your coupon, the teacher will make a notation on a report card that each Cuban student carries from kindergarten until he graduates from high school. In addition to information about the student participation in all political activities, the report card also has information about his family including whether his parents belong to the Communist Party, a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution or the CTC or Confederation of Cuban Workers. In pre-Castro Cuba, the CTC used to represent Cuban workers and demand new benefits and better salaries for them. In Castro's Cuba, however, the CTC, exploits the workers, treating them as if they were slaves. The poor Cuban workers have to pay a fee to the CTC from their meager salaries in order to be "represented" by them. I was in such shock to learn these facts that I am now firmly convinced there is no such thing as a "free educational system" in Cuba.
As my conversations with Havana locals turned to the issue of free healthcare, praised by many ignorant Americans (myself having been one of them before this trip), I became even more distraught at the truth about healthcare in Cuba. The truth is that Castro has built excellent health facilities for the use of FOREIGNERS who pay hard currency for medical services. However, Cuban citizens are not even allowed to visit those facilities ! Cubans who require medical attention must go to other hospitals, that lack the most minimum requirements needed to take care of their patients. Most hospitals are filthy and patients have to bring their own towels, bed sheets, pillows, or they have to lay down on dirty bare mattresses stained with blood and other body fluids. Next time you hear someone say that Cubans receive "excellent free healthcare" (as I once used to say) please think again because that is simply not true. I spoke to five people whose family members died while attempting to "float" to Florida on dangerous, man-made rafts because they were so desperate to escape Fidel Castro's regime. Most people I spoke to were afraid to answer my question "Do you like Castro?" But their silence and weary down-turned eyes spoke volumes about the truth. Most people HATE Castro and think he is selfish, oppressive monster who has banked millions of dollars while the Cuban people starve and wait in line for rations of bread. I came back from my trip to Cuba a changed person. I felt so stupid and ignorant for having believed this documentary and other statements made by American actors and directors such as Sydney Pollack, Danny Glover, Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson and Kevin Costner, that portrayed Castro as "brilliant" and Cuba as having "excellent healthcare and education." If you watch this documentary you should also watch the movie "The Lost City." This movie is the story of a Cuban family during the Cuban Revolution and ACCURATELY shows you both pre-Castro and post-Castro Cuba. It depicts how Castro's government slowly began eliminating free press any semblance of property rights and freedom. The movie is fair because it portrays both points of view--one brother in the movie supports Castro and the other disagrees with Castro. The cab driver I had while I was in Havana told me that, being 75 years old, he had experienced both pre-Castro and post-Castro Cuba. When Castro took power he was poor and believed in socialism and the revolution. But now, 45 years later, he is no better off than he was before. At least before Castro, he told me, he had better healthcare, a better house and freedom to express his religious beliefs (Castro closed all churches and essentially banned religion) and political beliefs. Perhaps the saddest part of my trip, which still resonates in my head today, was how this old man just kept repeating over and over "I should have left in 1959. I should have known. I should have known. Now I am old and cannot leave. I'll never be free."
Description of Fidel: The Untold Story
Whether dismissed as a relic or revered as a savior, all agree that Fidel Castro, nearing 44 years as the leader of Cuba, is one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Rarely are Americans given a chance to see inside the world of this socialist leader. The new documentary film FIDEL by Estela Bravo offers a unique opportunity to view the man through exclusive interviews with Castro himself, historians, public figures and close friends, with rare footage from the Cuban State archives.Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, and Sydney Pollack discuss Fidel as a person, while former and current US government figures including Arthur Schlesinger, Ramsey Clark, Wayne Smith, Congressman Charles Rangel and a former CIA agent offer political and historical perspectives on Castro and the long-standing US embargo against Cuba. Family members and close friends, including Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, offer a window into the rarely seen personal life of Fidel.
Bravo's camera captures Fidel Castro swimming with bodyguards, visiting his childhood home and school, joking with Nelson Mandela, Ted Turner and Muhammad Ali, meeting Elian Gonzalez, and celebrating his birthday with members of the Buena Vista Social Club. Juxtaposing the personal anecdotal with history of the Cuban revolution and the fight to survive the post-Soviet period, FIDEL tells a previously untold story and presents a new view of this compelling figure.
Cuba DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in Cuba DVDs
Vampiros En La HabanaRelease date: 2004-12-21; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Entre CiclonesRelease date: 2006-03-28; DVD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
The Place Without LimitsRelease date: 2006-12-05; DVD
Best price: $8.60
Price in other shops:
101 Rent BoysRelease date: 2001-02-01; DVD
Best price: $14.75
Price in other shops:
I Am CubaRelease date: 2000-01-18; DVD
Best price: $100.00
Fidel: The Untold StoryRelease date: 2003-07-22; DVD
Best price: $16.50
Price in other shops:
Bitter SugarRelease date: 2001-02-27; DVD
Best price: $12.32
Price in other shops:
Waiting ListRelease date: 2004-07-20; DVD
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops:
Nada+ (Nada Mas)Release date: 2005-06-21; DVD
Best price: $15.86
Price in other shops:
Strawberry & ChocolateRelease date: 2004-01-13; DVD
Best price: $17.98
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
History Channel Declassified - Castro - The SurvivorRelease date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Fidel Castro: My Life: A Spoken Autobiographyby Ignacio Ramonet, Fidel Castro
Scribner; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.57
Price in other shops:
I Am Cuba: The Ultimate EditionRelease date: 2007-11-20; DVD
Best price: $30.32
Price in other shops:
The Motorcycle Diaries (Widescreen Edition)Universal; Release date: 2005-02-15; DVD
Best price: $4.21
Price in other shops:
Cuban StoryRelease date: 2002-05-14; DVD
Best price: $125.00
Biography - Fidel Castro: El Comandante (A&E DVD Archives)A&E; Release date: 2005-04-26; DVD
Best price: $8.27
Price in other shops:
FidelLions Gate; Release date: 2002-05-21; DVD
Best price: $7.41
Price in other shops:
American Experience: Fidel CastroRelease date: 2005-02-01; DVD
Best price: $15.52
Price in other shops:
CHE: Rise and Fall (Che Guevara: The Documentary)Release date: 2006-07-13; Published: 2006; DVD
Best price: $27.19
El Che - Investigating a LegendRelease date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops: