Fidel (1969)

This  film provides a unique view of Cuba’s leader. In 1968, Castro took Landau on a weeklong jeep ride through the eastern mountains. There, he plays baseball with a group of peasants, visits his pre-school, and trades jokes with a 98 year old man. Fidel also listens to  people complaining about food distribution, bad roads and transportation. Landau captures Cuba’s revolutionary chief early in the morning in his tent. The camera zooms in on his dirty fingernails, and delicate fingers holding his trademark cigar while he tells a story of Simon Bolivar and offers tactical advice to guerilla warriors throughout the Third World. The film contains fascinating archive footage of the Bay of Pigs invasion and scenes of Che Guevara- alongside interviews with political prisoners. Spectacular photography and editing with hot Cuban music provide the cinematic aesthetics that give this film beatiful form to accompany its exciting content.

"The great quality of this remarkable film is that it is educational in the best possible sense. It gives you a feeling for what revolution - any revolution - is actually about, what it means in all its implications and how it affects the lives of the people. The task in making this film seems in retrospect to have been enormous and it is a tribute to the makers that they produced such an exciting and illuminating work. I found it completely absorbing from the start to finish. A tapestry for history" - Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone. Color.

Library / Institutional Edition

Home Edition

$35

$99.95