Oliver Stone's "Comandante", re: Fidel Castro. Have any of you seen it?

[Wonk]

Do you have any thoughts about it?

Oh, and it'll be on CBC NewsWorld tonight for any of you that that get that channel.

http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyesunday/comandante/

Is Comandante a bad film because it shows Fidel Castro, the old baseball star, effortlessly fielding Oliver Stone's softball questions, or a good film for the same reason? - Roger Ebert

[Wonk]

1. No DUers have seen this yet, I take it?

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/television/article.jsp?content=20040329_78110_78110

Review: Oliver Stone's Comandante

BRIAN D. JOHNSON

Only a filmmaker with an ego as expansive as Oliver Stone's could make a documentary about Fidel Castro and leave the impression that the director, rather than the dictator, is the one with the single-minded agenda. Digested from 30 hours of candid interviews that Stone conducted in Havana, Comandante (CBC Newsworld, Mar. 28, 10 p.m. EST/PST) offers an intimate and sympathetic portrait of the Cuban president -- so sympathetic that HBO pulled the documentary from its schedule last spring after Castro jailed 75 dissidents and executed three men who had attempted to hijack a ferry. Comandante is well worth watching. Castro holds court with wisdom and wily eloquence on a variety of subjects, including his youth, his women, his children, Ernest Hemingway, Ernesto (Che) Guevara, the Cuban Missile Crisis, religion, homosexuality and the origin of the universe.

more...

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Comandante-10002318/preview.php

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-10002318/reviews.php?critic=all&sortby=default&page=1&rid=1171566

In February 2002 filmmaker Oliver Stone spent three days with Fidel Castro. From some 30 hours of tape he assembled this captivating documentary, an intimate portrait of the Cuban leader. Of course, this being Stone, it's also hugely slanted ... especially when we see Castro get away unchallenged with evasive and patently false answers to questions about such touchy issues as his approach to racism, torture, sexuality and drugs. But Castro emerges as a charming character--engaging, sincere and very intelligent. And a real politician with an expertise in the art of spin.

Stone includes a lot of archival footage as well, opening with a mock newsreel about the 1959 revolution that overthrew the Batista regime. Political conflicts form a large part of the film, as Castro reminisces about Kennedy, Khrushchev, Nixon, Gorbachev, Reagan and Bush II with a disarming openness. He also talks quite movingly about Che Guevara; and Stone can't resist including lots of footage of the freedom fighter and cultural icon, plus a few too many clips of Eva Peron (accompanied by the swelling strains of Don't Cry for Me Argentina)!

And while it's fascinating to get Castro's perspective on things like the Bay of Pigs invasion, the missile crisis, US intervention in Latin America and the Cold War, we can't help but feel that Stone is bending this documentary for his own personal interest. Castro is a bit too wonderful--art aficionado, passionate lover, international hero (sending troops to help Angola), improving the life of his dearly beloved populace. Yes, he also talks about regrets--Castro comes across as very realistic and self-aware. He also understands the situation in the USA much more sharply than we'd expect, astutely seeing how the American public are oblivious to the truth, accepting the lies of their government in the name of national (or now "homeland") security. This would all have a much stronger punch if it weren't for Stone's relentless one-sided editing. But at least the point is made.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Oliver+Stone+Comandante+Castro

[Wonk]

6. vp3 video here

303 M

Download to disk before playing for best results.

vp3 videos can be played with QuickTime Player, and some other media players too
http://www.google.com/search?q=vp3+player

[Minstrel Boy]

7. Wonk, you're amazing!

Thanks a million!

:toast:

[Minstrel Boy]

2. sorry wonk, I just duped you.

Haven't seen it, but looking forward to it.

Call me an unreconstructed Marxist, or just a goof, but Trudeau's 1976 visit to Cuba and his shout of "Vive Fidel!" is, to me, the high-water mark of Canadian foreign policy.

At Trudeau's funeral, Montreal 2000:

[Wonk]

3. No problem. nt

[Minstrel Boy]

4. great film

I hope those who can see it are watching.

[Wonk]

5. It's on again now (a kick for any night owls who want to and can watch it)

[thebigidea]

8. oh! neat, I hadn't seen this... thanks

[Wonk]

9. You're welcome. nt

[ConcernedCanuk]

10. Glad this got "kicked" - I missed it, but it's on Friday at 10ET

.
.
.

" Friday April 2 at 10PM ET on CBC Newsworld "

Interesting AN INTERVIEW WITH CASTRO

ON BEING A DICTATOR

FIDEL CASTRO: What is a dictator? Does anyone really know? And is it bad to be a dictator? Because I have seen the U.S. government being friendly with the biggest dictators. Karl Marx spoke of dictatorship of the proletariat. Not of personal dictatorship.

I have always tried to solve fundamental problems through persuasion and not moral authority. You will not find a picture from the last 43 years of the police oppressing the people.

I do admit that I am a dictator. A dictator to myself. I am a slave to the people, that is what I am.

/snip/

A HUMEROUS MOMENT

FIDEL CASTRO: My mind is used to the idea that I'm not going to live forever. There is a limited amount of time.

OLIVER STONE: They tell me Viagara will help.

FIDEL CASTRO: Will it help me to think? Doctors say that it accelerates blood flow.

OLIVER STONE: I could be a CIA agent.

FIDEL CASTRO: That's right. The headlines will read: Oliver Stone smuggles Viagara to Castro.

Many Americans will believe you helped kill the enemy with a heart attack

[Wonk]

11. Another kick to keep this thread alive a while longer

[wtf]

12. Wonk

Thank you!

[wtf]

13. Do you have any idea where I can d/l The War Room?

n/t

[Wonk]

17. It's on again tonight (kick)

[Judi Lynn]

14. Very immature of HBO to refuse to carry it, as was originally planned.

Tacky, tacky.

Someone of Stone's caliber just doesn't do these things every day.
He must have believed it was well worth his time.

Hope to see it soon, through the charity of a great Canadian D.U. poster, who's going to share a tape.

Hope someone who has seen it will give an opinion here.

[Fear]

15. GREEEEAAAT movie

Hi there everyone, my advice, WATCH IT, IT"S GREAT!

[newyawker99]

16. Hi Fear!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: