Customer Reviews

Cuba - The Forgotten Island

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

After looking at some of the personal reviews of the DVD video, "Cuba - the Forgotten Island (1999)", made in Canada by Ironhill Pictures, I beg to disagree with some of these reviews. I just bought a DVD player recently for my computer, and I am getting hooked on the DVD format now. So I decided to
take a look at this movie and I was very happy with the overall content.

"The writer tried to put together a complex history in a very short time. Among the misleading scenes were several showing Maya Indians in Cuba. There are no Indians in Cuba now, and the
Mayas were never inhabitants of Cuba."

Point #1 - the film never shows "Mayan Indians" in Cuba. Definitely not Mayan there. The real-life indigenous Amerinds were most likely tribes from the Amazonia region of
NE South America, who still live in much the same conditions as the pre-Columbian Indians of Cuba once did. If the
reviewer(s) would have listened carefully to the narrator, it would be clear that he was using these examples in the form of an artistic license to give the viewer an idea of what Cuban (Taino) Indian life might have been.

Fact: there are local Taino natives in Cuba, from Baracoa and, without a doubt, traces of the peaceful Taino Indians are still to be found in some people who live on the other large islands of
the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and elsewhere. The narrator can be faulted only for not tracking such ethnic groups down in Cuba itself.

"In reality the Cuba before Castro was prosperous with a strong middle class. The author neglected to compare these with the oppression, poverty and lack of morality that exists in the
Cuba of today. "

Point #2 - Wrong again. The film correctly portrays the oppression in Cuba under the Spanish, leading up to the
10 Years' War, and it briefly covers the rise of the decadence beginning with the US occupation after 1898.

Nice shots of the Morro Castle complex in the front of Havana's
harbour. Some interesting historical footnotes here.

Some excellent B&W archival footage of Castro, Guevara, Cienfuegos, et. al, in the early years of the Cuban Revolution.

The film has some beautiful footage of Cuba in all its lush greenery.

To those of us in the U.S. who are forbidden from traveling to Cuba (so much for "the land of the free"), this movie makes for an excellent alternative to the $5000 dollar fines issued by the US Dept. of Treasury, a penalty that awaits us for the `crime' of reaching the first free territory of the Americas.

"The U.K. narrator maintains a neutral point of view throughout the film without getting sexually involved in the political things we have all heard enough about during the 1960s. He just presents the facts."

I agree completely here. It's clear to me that the film does justice to the Cuban Revolution today and we in the US can only hope for more DVDs coming out in this genre.

Needed: more focus on the years from the early 20th century leading up to the 1959 victory by the Cuban Rebel Army.

I was looking for a DVD with a general and brief history of Cuba and this DVD went way beyond that. The DVD is divided up into 3 main chapters
1.)Pre-Columbus-Spanish American war 1898
The history begins Tiano indians who populated the islands long before Columbus and his band of terrorists arrived. Columbus and his crew raped, pilaged and plundered as much as the could to the demise of the indians.
Cuba's central role in the expansion of Spain's coloialism in the Americas. The uprising of slaves and Spaniards alike, fighting together aginst the royal crown during the first revolution in 1895 leading up to the Spanish-American war in 1898.They devote a lot of time talking about the Sierra Maestro mountain range, since the last two revolutions started here.
The U.K. narrator maintains a neutral point of view throughout the film without getting sexually involved in the political things we have all heard enough about during the 1960s. He just presents the facts.
2.)The beautiful island rythms of Cuba
One of the most surprising and pleasurable part of this DVD is the time the author devotes to the roots of Cuban music and the role it plays in every day Cuban life. If you are interested in an introduction to Cuban rythms then definately purchase this DVD.
3.)Ernestito Heminway
What would Cuba be without the mystique and nostalgia of Ernest Hemingway? Many different tales of Ernestito's life on the island are analysed and discussed from a non-US point of view
which is refreshing to hear somebody else's opinion.

I definately recommend this to those who are interested in an introductory lesson on Cuban history with very little bias.

Unfortunately due to the restraints placed by the Cuban Government on information it seems that this documentary is only interested in making the United States the enemy of the Cuban nation and portraying Fidel Castro and his failed "revolution" as the saviors of Cuba.

I understand the difficulty in being able to produce a current documentary with the help("help" meaning allowing filming on the island and using historical documents , film footage, etc...) of the Cuban government. Since they control the flow of information anything that portrays their government in a negative light is not allowed. It seems that this documentary although insightful in some aspects does not give any credit to the Cuban exile community for the positive aspects of Cuban society prior to the Castro Regime. Maybe sometime the producers of this documentary can try to capture both sides of this debate.

This history of Cuba is totally misleading. The chapter titled The Conquistadores was not only misleading but also inaccurate. The writer tried to put together a complex history in a very short time. Among the misleading scenes were several showing Maya Indians in Cuba. There are no Indians in Cuba now, and the Mayas were never inhabitants of Cuba. The author overemphasized the oppression of the Spaniards,and incorrectly portrayed the Cuba before Castro as a two-class country with low morality. In reality the Cuba before Castro was prosperous with a strong middle class. The author neglected to compare these with the oppression, poverty and lack of morality that exists in the Cuba of today. He neglected to mention that prostitution, gambling, and criminal activity are rampant in Castro's Cuba. His portrayal of Fidel Castro and his men as heroes is far from believable. This is propaganda piece from the Castro Regime. If you are interested in the history of Cuba, check your local library.

This video contains selective, fictional accounts of Cuba's history... Not to mention the photos of the "aboriginal peoples" of Cuba are not those of Cuba. Yet another BFS piece of rubbish

I just got done watching this film and I would like for everyone to save there money, I rated this film a -5 .You be very displease.

BFS video does it again. They've provided a lengh packed DVD. No special features but you'll get plenty of information and beautiful scenery from America's Favourite island :)