?A Selective Portrait? of Fidel flick

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

{Interestingly, this movie slam was linked through the NYTimes
International web page.  Whoever put it there must believe it has some
political purpose.  Predictably, the reviewer understands nothing of the
history of the left as revealed by such an ignorant comment as, well,
you?ll see what I mean.  S/he is also lamentably late in jumping on the
Cuban homophobia bandwagon (it?s long left the barn), and unaware that
other Caribbean states have higher numbers and ratios of economic
refugees.  Nevertheless, let?s just hope this reviewer continues to
focus critically on motion pictures about historical figures.  We could
make some suggestions from US history, but, oh, dear! where to start?
As far as getting the other side of things, yes, yes, wonderful idea;
let?s also hope this catches on in the pages of the paper of record?
All in all, tho', if that reviewer hoped to turn me off, s/he failed.
I just hope this movie comes to my town!  ?cb}

A Selective Portrait of Castro and Cuba's Revolution
By A. O. SCOTT
New York Times,  October 18, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/18/movies/18FIDE.html?pagewanted=print&position=top

Estela Bravo's new documentary, "Fidel," poses an apparently
straightforward question. Is its subject, Fidel Castro, who has ruled
Cuba since 1959, "a demon or a symbol of resistance and social justice"?
But the phrasing of the question gives away the answer: this is an
exercise not in biography but in hero worship.

Ms. Bravo has done some impressive research, unearthing archival
photographs and film of Mr. Castro and interviewing many of his friends
and comrades, but to call her presentation of the man and his revolution
one-sided would be an understatement. "Fidel" resembles nothing so much
as the work of a second-rate Renaissance court painter devoted to the
flattery of the subject rather than the accuracy of the portrait.

At one point, the American novelist Alice Walker, with sublime
soft-headedness, marvels that Mr. Castro cannot dance or sing. "It's a
good thing he's got all those other good qualities," she says. (Later,
she compares him to a redwood tree.) This is about the harshest
criticism Ms. Bravo permits, and one wonders just which good qualities
Ms. Walker had in mind. The persecution of homosexuals? The silencing of
political opposition? The jailing of dissidents?

"Fidel," which opens today in New York, rules such issues inadmissible,
and this is a shame. A balanced assessment of Cuba's revolution, which
has survived the collapse of socialism and four decades of American
efforts to reverse and obstruct it, would be fascinating and important.

But for Ms. Bravo and the staunch partisans who populate her film, Mr.
Castro must be either a monster or a saint. The possibility that he is
both ? or that he is neither, but rather a complex and contradictory
historical figure ? cannot be entertained. The film holds fast to one of
the sorrier traditions of the left: the belief that any expression of
doubt about the virtue of a revolutionary regime can only play into the
hands of its enemies, and so must be suppressed.

The history recounted in "Fidel" is not entirely worthless and is at
least a starting point for consideration of the complex, entwined but
not entirely congruent histories of the cold war and the struggles for
self-determination in the post-colonial world. The Bay of Pigs and the
missile crisis of 1962 receive due attention, as does Mr. Castro's
sponsorship of various third world insurgencies. Nelson Mandela credits
Cuba's intervention in the Angolan civil war with hastening the end of
South African apartheid. All of this, as well as domestic achievements
in education and health care, are certainly part of Mr. Castro's record,
just as the wiliness, wit and resilience evident in speeches and
interviews are part of his character.

Doggedly and single-mindedly, Ms. Bravo insists that there are no other
sides. While Mr. Castro's travels are duly chronicled, the Mariel
boatlift goes entirely unmentioned. We do catch a glimpse of a few
people setting off on a makeshift raft, but the film never bothers to
ask why anyone would risk exposure, drowning and shark attacks to get
away from Mr. Castro's social justice. A number of revolutionary
fighters offer touching reminiscences, but the experiences of those who
fought in the revolution and were later betrayed or victimized by it is
wiped from the record.

It is hardly surprising that Ms. Bravo does not interview any of Mr.
Castro's die-hard enemies, but she conveniently pretends that the only
opposition to his rule has come from right-wing exiles and the Central
Intelligence Agency. The heartbreak that so often follows revolutionary
enthusiasm ? a phenomenon movingly illuminated, for instance, in the
writings of Reinaldo Arenas and in "Before Night Falls," Julian
Schnabel's film biography of Arenas ? is rendered nonexistent by this
movie, which admits of no nuance, no ambiguity, no argument. This is bad
cinema and bad history. Ms. Bravo is unstinting in her praise for the
omelet and her admiration of the chef, but she refuses to admit that
she's walking on eggshells.

FIDEL

Directed by Estela Bravo; in English and Spanish, with English
subtitles; directors of photography, Roberto Chile and Kevin Keating;
edited by David Frankel, Monica Henriquez and Fermin Gonzalez; music by
Frank Fernandez; produced by Elizabeth Beer; released by First Run
Features. Running time: 91 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Elián Gonzalez, the Buena Vista
Social Club, Alice Walker, Sydney Pollack, Ted Turner, Muhammed Ali,
Harry Belafonte, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Charles B. Rangel, Ramsey
Clark, Wayne Smith and Gabriel García Márquez.





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