Educational Media Reviews Online

This concise historical view of Cuba is accented with a pleasant musical background along with archival footage documenting the emergence of Fidel Castro as a young student militant leader. This program shows how Fidel and his army ousted the country's leader, Batista to takeover and become the leader for the next forty years. Castro has seen his country and its people striving for its share in the world trade market, forming partnerships with countries supporting him and his ideals, and growing sugar cane as a money crop. Castro has instituted the death penalty, policies on education, banned freedom of the press, banned private enterprise, banned ownership of homes, and banned personal ownership of farms and crops. Since denouncement of democratic societies, Castro has aligned himself and his government to the Soviet Union and later to China.

The loss of the Soviet Union's support to Cuba forced Cuba to look toward tourism and sugar crops to sustain independence. The viewer is left with questions as to whether Castro will form another alliance, give up leadership, or allow his people to have more freedoms given to them as he ages and decides the future of Cuba.

Technically, the blending of many different qualities of black and white and color films together is well done. However, the negative feature of this film is the narration. The British narrator, Lucy Longhurst makes some words indiscernible and the viewer needs to provide undivided attention in some spots to comprehend all of the narration. Audiences are given the opportunity to see how a dictatorship works and what happens to those people who disagree with the leader. The footage of world leaders like: Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Gorbachev provides a real history lesson and invaluable treasure of these men. Recommended for high school and adult audiences, and libraries acquiring materials in biography, history, or political science.