Nadie escuchaba

Any documentary about Cuba shot in 1987 could have been used either by USA or USSR as a propaganda tool. Although at that time, USSR was on the path of liberalization already.

This is a two-hour doc about some of the lucky (and not-so-lucky) survivors of Cuba's prisons after the revolution of 1959.Unfortunately, the necessary 'bite' required for such a doc is watered down in sheer redundancy: there are 30 -- count 'em -- 30 different witnesses to the post-revolution days in Cuba.

As a young child I remember being fascinated by the news stories about the brave and dashing bearded leader fighting a ruthless dictator in the Cuban jungle to establish a democracy for the people. I was in my Errol Flynn period and Fidel Castro was a lot cooler than Ike and even JFK.

An impassioned documentary by Nestor Almendros, this documentary features Fidel Castro, Francois Mitterand, former Castro guerrilla comrade Huber Mattos, one of the only surviving original guerrillas, besides Castro's two brothers, dissident black writer Esteban Cardenas, and who would become an Honorary US Ambassador Armando Valladares. This documentary largely focuses on his well-known best-selling saga, published in North America in 1986 as AGAINST ALL HOPE, known in Spanish as Contra Toda Esperanza, 1984.

I have seen this documentary several times and still touches my heart. For some of my American friends it's not easy to understand the full dimension of Castro's dictatorship and the constant violation of human rights in Cuba.