Customer Reviews

Fidel! A Film by Saul Landau

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

 

 

Just saw the HBO film "Comadante"(2003), which I ordered through the Amazon UK Marketplace, by noted director Oliver Stone, and found it an excellent recent profile of the "Old Fidel" Castro. It seems like such a perfect "Bookend" to Saul Landau's excellent portrait of a "Young Fidel" Castro in his Prime, shot 36 years before, beautifully filmed in color, as he made his rounds all over Cuba and gave his "Progress Report" on Cuban Socialism, after it's first 10 years. Finally, after 30 years, it will soon be available on American Home Video, on February 24, 2009, for Americans to judge for themselves.

It has now been 50 years since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. The fact that both of these excellent films by American directors have been virtually BANNED from U.S audiences since they were made, shows that the Dark Forces of Demonization and Fear have been blocking average Americans from the opportunity to look objectively at Castro, and yes, perhaps even becoming charmed by him, as Barbara Walters was when she spent many hours of personal dialog with Fidel in preparation for her 2 Prime Time ABC interviews with the Cuban leader, spaced 25 years apart.

Fidel is the same bluntly frank, charismatic individual in 2003 as he was in 1969 in "Fidel!". His sense of humor is, as always, ready to burst forth. In the absence of these these two films, Americans have had to depend on the Miami Hate Lobby and the likes of Dick Cheney and Fox News for information about Cuba!

Fidel is a man who has a World View and a concern for Humanity and the Enviornment. He has been "Thinking Globally and acting Locally" for the past 60 years. It is his Corporate Enemies who have Poisoned the Enviornment and brought down the World's economies through their Boundless Greed! Viva Fidel!

...This review is NOT an invitation to all the Die-Hard Cold Warriors to come "Out of the Woodwork" to repeat their Nauseous 50-year-old Whining about Fidel Castro. The rest of the world can accept the fact that Cuba won it's independence & has paid a very high price by angering the world's "Fattest Cats" and enduring a crippling economic US Embargo. The Cold War has now been over almost 20 years, and the Corporate Monopolies, have Won! We are now starting to see the type of world that they prefer...

The Right Wing Idealogs should now contemplate their Victory and spend some time thinking about how their Ultimate Hero, George W. Bush, has made such a Mess out of BOTH America & the World and how the Human Race faces Extinction from the Industrial Pollution of the Entire Planet... The main question Today is Very Basic...

Is their still time for a reorganization of World Society in order to save Mankind from annihilation? Fidel Castro asks this question again in "Comandante." Hopefully Amazon will bring the British Release version of this excellent HBO film to the US. At present Amazon USA lists only a Turkish import, at a Premium Price.

Tonight marks the 42nd anniversary of my meeting Comandante Fidel Castro in Havana. A year later, now living in London, I sat with Saul and his then-wife Nina and told them about the experience. I know for a fact that Dr. Castro really liked Saul Landau and considered him a true friend. I saw his 1968 doc. at a private screening Saul gave me in London with my boss, Ronan O'Rahilly, as well as Ronan's guest, actress Charlotte Rampling. It was a truly moving experience for Ronan as he is the grandson of 'The O'Rahilly' the Irish hero and fighter. I befriended the Landau family that summer and saw how hard Saul worked to get the essence of his friend, Fidel. That was long ago and far away. I never saw Saul again after the screening in 1969. It is painful for me to watch these films on Fidel and Cuba because I was in my mid-20's at the time and could not have forseen the exciting life I would lead after I left Cuba. I owe everything I have experienced in life to that year in Havana and reading Fidel's speeches and books. As always, on the 8th of October, I always go back to that night when I spend hours with him talking about everything under the sun. My name has changed, but the memories will always remain the same. Saul Landau is the real deal.