Fidel

The Life and Leadership of Fidel Castro

In May 1968, just nine years after the Cuban Revolution, filmmaker Saul Landau was invited to join Fidel Castro in Cuba for an unprecedented in-depth interview.

Over the course of a week, Landau and Castro traveled through the island's mountainous terrain through a variety of settings, from military camps to a pickup baseball game to Castro's speech on the 15th anniversary of his attack on Fort Moncada which marked the beginning of the Revolution. Landau captured an unparalleled time into the relationship of the Cuban people with their popular leader, at a time when the country was being transformed internally while internationally vilified.

FIDEL! was completed in 1969 using fascinating footage from Cuba's National Archive. It's U.S. release was met with violence in several cities, although it is now considered a classic documentary, and was recently restored and remastered by the National Film Preservation Foundation

"...EXCITING and ILLUMINATING WORK. I found it COMPLETELY ABSORBING from the start to finish. A TAPESTRY FOR HISTORY." - Ralph Gleason, Rolling Stone

"A masterful portrait." - Gore Vidal