AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

andyalonso1 I don't know who posted the comment before, but they obviously have no idea what the hell they're talking about. I am Cuban-American born and raised in the United States. I have been to Cuba and seen the utter poverty that the people live in. And even though Batista's government wasn't the best the people did not live in poverty like they do now. My grandfather died in the Bay of Pigs after being asked by Castro to join his regime. Just because he was a revolutionary doesn't mean his revolution was right. He killed many innocent people along the way to his political success and lied to all the people. How can someone be so ignorant to say long live Fidel when they obviously have no idea what they are talking about. The same goes for Che Guevara. I don't want to paint him as evil because in all reality he didn't know Castro was going to do what he did, but he did kill many innocent people in the name of "The Revolution." He was not the freedom fighter many "IGNORANT" people portray him to be, but a radical fanatic.

esteban1747 It is certainly very difficult for someone to prepare well a film about Fidel Castro and Cuban Revolution. One lengthy film is not enough, may be some sequels are the best way to show something consistent. The director and producers should be obviously people neutral trying to show good and bad of this process. The film from historical point of view has a lot of incoherences, persons like Fidel and Raúl Castro as well as Che Guevara are badly played. Fidel Castro is not so sweet talking as you can see him in this film, while Guevara was a man with culture and deep in his arguments, Gael García Bernal played a role far to be Che Guevara. There are also some doubtful scenes and assertions, e.g. young Fidel Castro arguing with the American Ambassador after the American marines raped the monument of José Martí. Historically there is no evidence that Castro had such a discussion with the ambassador. Raúl Castro was never sympathetic to the leader of Orthodox party, Eduardo Chivas. Raúl was a member of the youth of the so-called Partido Socialista Popular (Communist), and this party had no good relationship with Orthodox party, so the scene of Raúl running together with Fidel at the time Chivas shot himself is not real. Celia Sánchez died several years after the revolutionary offensive, which happened in 1967. Che Guevara resigned as Minister and went first to Congo, then came back to Cuba in order to prepare the guerrilla for Bolivia. Thus the film was wrong showing that Guevara resigned and went directly to Bolivia. Any film about Cuban Revolution should give some space to Camilo Cienfuegos' life, a real hero of the Cuban Revolution, who was badly shown in the film. The figure of Dr. Osvaldo Dorticos, the second president during the Revolution, who killed himself, is absent in the film. Hubert Matos' problem was touched superficially, the same is applicable to the case of General Ochoa, just mentioned slightly at the end of the film and mixed with Mariel exodus, the latter happened in 1980 while Ochoa was arrested and processed in 1989. The relationship between Cuba and USSR was historically very complicated, and shifting from time to time. I can make a longer list of historical shortcomings of this film, but it also has the Mexican accent of the actors talking in Spanish plus some extras that do not look at all as Cubans. To prepare a good material about Cuba you must have more mulatos and black people (no less than 40% of Cuban population) participating in the film.

Mr-Ark The first two hours of this movie are superb. 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 around the 2 hour mark as Castro takes power of Cuba. Suddenly, the timeline 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 two hours in and we suddenly cut to a very badly filmed sequence showing the death of Che Guevara. 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. The desire to portray Fidel in a bad light, sacrifices the characterisation 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.

Gringotec As Hemingway wrote, "A murderous tyranny pervades every village in the island". For the fool who wrote that Castro robbed Cuba of its true freedom, this was written before the popular revolution from within, not imposed from outside, which overthrew a regime so corrupt even the Mafia didn't have to break the law. Some Mafia moved to Miami, none of whom were African or mulatto. As portrayed, Batista's troops were fairly treated, as soldiers who joined because no other work was available and under corrupt officers who would rather be in the cities collecting their kickbacks. No wonder so many troops went over to the rebels! Too bad it lacked the antecedent showing Castro as the most popular politician in Cuba before the revolution -running for their Congress and hailed as a future President. Batista's 1952 coup wherein he seized power, dissolved Congress, and canceled elections rated less than a minute. Castro sued Batista for Illegal Succession! Flee Cuba? Much greater numbers flee Latin America, Mexico, Guatemala (where they have death squads) and even our Most Favored Trade partner China. They do it for economic opportunity. ONLY Cubans are allowed to remain if they make it ashore; sometimes employing people smugglers with no regard for life. U.S. Immigration grants a few hundred visas to Cubans annually, not the 20,000 and more we agreed to; Nonetheless arriving here illegally is OK. Anyone who has flown to Cuba has met Cubans aboard returning home, then seen no military presence there, and maybe noted that some Cuban cops don't even carry guns. Yes, I've been there a number of times. Don't like that? Stuff it, fool! What are fools and liars like Enrique afraid we'll see down there? Hmmm, maybe one is that they have multiple candidates for each office, need not be party members or millionaires to win, that 1/3 of the National Assembly are not party members. Ride in a cab in Cuba; you may well hear a Florida station selected on its radio. Bring T-shirts bearing logos of U.S. products, teams, and stars & stripes, even "U S Army". They make great gifts, are commonly worn, and no, fool, they don't disappear from the streets as they did in Chile.