Product Details

• Actors: Víctor Huggo Martin, Gael García Bernal, Patricia Velasquez, Cecilia Suárez, Maurice Compte
• Directors: David Attwood
• Writers: Stephen Tolkin
• Producers: David V. Picker, Guy Hibbert, Jose Ludlow, Kevin Cooper, Mariano Carranco
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hallmark / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: May 21, 2002
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000640WP
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,690 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The 26th of July Movement, January 26, 2003

By 

rballjones "rballjones" (Des Moines, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fidel (DVD)

This English language film does well in bringing Fidel Castro to life as a personality and showing his role in the Cuban revolution. It has a great deal of excitement and drama, especially during the revolutionary period of the 50's, including a fair amount of military life and action.

The filmmakers try to give a balanced view of Castro--illustrating his passion for the welfare of Cuban people but also showing how power in some ways went to his head. As Celia Sanchez tells him (around 1980 I believe), "Listen to what I have to say--don't interrupt me--you're losing touch with the people."

"Fidel" is historically accurate from what I know and all the major characters in the Cuban revolution are depicted here including Sanchez, Raul Castro, Ernesto (Che) Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos.

I think the filmmakers took on too much, however, in attempting to cover Fidel's life from 1949 to present. Many events are given too little exposure. Yet this film is much too long at about 3 hours and 20 minues. A better film might have focused on the revolution up through 1959 and ended with the march into Santiago--about two-thirds of what this one covers--leaving the rest for another day.

All in all, "Fidel" is well done. For people in the U.S. it gives a good account of a major, and fairly recent, historical event (the Cuban Revolution) occuring just south of our border--an event of which most U.S. people have little knowledge.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A man who started off good, gained power and kept it for no reason but to remain in power., June 12, 2006

By 

BernardZ (Melbourne, vic Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fidel (DVD)

Almost like a book. When you have an interesting person and stick to the facts, you automatically have a good story.

This the actors do as the acting here is quite good. Victor Hugo Martin played extremely well.

Warning it is quite long film over 3 hours but I could have watched another three hours. I wish they had shown more of the Cuban crisis and Fidel Castro in the 1970s

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This movie gave a good insight on Fidel., November 9, 2006

By 

Jenny J.J.I. "A New Yorker" (That Lives in Carolinas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fidel (DVD)

Being that this was a TV mini-series through the production of Showtime it was pretty good. To me the first two hours of this movie was great. There are some very strong performances all round, and the activities are well researched and offer a fairly objective view of events. Obviously, many events are skirted over in order to fit the running time, but what is shown is a fairly accurate portrayal of history. The violence in particular is extremely well done, offering a very realistic portrayal of gunfire and its consequences, instead of some needlessly flashy OTT action.

The problem comes towards the 2nd half of the movie as Castro (played by Victor Huggo Martin) takes power of Cuba. Suddenly, the time-line lurches drastically to try and mention important events. The films low budget shows itself up as the film spans years and events with little or no regard to objective film making.

The movie is about Fidel, however, over the second half we suddenly cut to a very badly filmed sequence showing the death of Che Guevara (played by Gael García Bernal). Whilst certainly an important part of Fidel's life, the narrative shift from Fidel to Che seems clunky and out of place with the rest of the film. As a fan of Gael Garcia Bernal, I was especially interested in his character. However, I was left especially disappointed by Che's one-dimensional portrayal.

The desire to portray Fidel in a bad light, sacrifices the characterizations of the first half of the movie, and instead offers a clumsily scripted/filmed series of events designed to show Fidel in a bad light. The film should've ended when he took power. As it is, the final hour and a half ruin an otherwise great movie.

Grand Ideals and Theory Run Amok That pretty much sums up nearly every Communist revolution from Lenin to Fidel. This film showed that Fidel was living in the communist dream world, where everything would be alright as long as people sacrificed "For the Revolution!" What happened was crop shortages, political prisons getting filled with people who became just as oppressed under Castro as they had under Batista.

This movie showed the simple truth. As long as men are men, Communism can never work.