Fidel (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:20
Fresh:12
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: This biographical documentary takes a rousing, invigorating, emotional look at one of the most complex and endearing figures of 20th Century global politics, Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Through a... [More]
Starring: Fidel Castro, Alice Walker, Harry Belafonte, Sydney Pollack
Director: Estela Bravo
Reviews for Fidel
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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Offers a completely one-sided view of Castro and his life and career. Full Review |
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 3/5 |
No review available.
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84/100 |
A landmark work that should have viewers across the world reaching for history books to learn not only politically expedient accounts of Fidel’s life, but also the real deal. Full Review |
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1/5 |
Bravo reveals the true intent of her film by carefully selecting interview subjects who will construct a portrait of Castro so predominantly charitable it can only be seen as propaganda. Full Review |
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B- |
An overview portrait more impressionistic than anything else, hardly psychologically plumbing... Still, leftist politics aside, the film undeniably works on a human level. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Any film that doesn't even in passing mention political prisoners, poverty and the boat loads of people who try to escape the country is less a documentary and more propaganda by way of a valentine sealed with a kiss. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Purely propaganda, a work of unabashed hero worship, it is nonetheless -- and likely inadvertently -- a timely and invaluable implicit reminder of the role that U.S. foreign policy has played in the rise of Castro. Full Review |
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It's a refreshing change from the self-interest and paranoia that shape most American representations of Castro. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Makes an aborbing if arguable case for the man's greatness. Full Review |
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3/5 |
Full of detail about the man and his country, and is well worth seeing. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
Has the kitsch appeal of a farm implement on a restaurant wall, or an Andy Warhol Mao poster: Interesting, but not for its original purpose. Full Review |
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2/4 |
Audiences will find no mention of political prisoners or persecutions that might paint the Castro regime in less than saintly tones. Full Review |
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Although Estela Bravo's documentary is cloyingly hagiographic in its portrait of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, it's still a guilty pleasure to watch. Full Review |
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3/5 |
No review available.
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Sacrifices the value of its wealth of archival foot-age with its less-than-objective stance. Full Review |
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An exhilarating experience. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
Ninety minutes of Viva Castro! can be as tiresome as 9 seconds of Jesse Helms' anti- Castro rhetoric, which are included Full Review |
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2.5/5 |
The lack of opposing viewpoints soon grows tiresome -- the film feels more like a series of toasts at a testimonial dinner than a documentary. Full Review |
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1.5/5 |
This is an exercise not in biography but in hero worship. Full Review |
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We get an image of Big Papa spanning history, rather than suspending it. Full Review |
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