With an engaging first half this Made for Cable Mini-Series is of two very separate Minds. Informative and Entertaining as the Genesis of the controversial and Dynamic Leader of the "People", this is a welcome and unbiased beginning.However, after Castro rises to the top of the Cuban Political Dysfunctional mess, this becomes weak, facile and it seems to have no momentum or intelligence. The post 1959 Revolution and its aftermath is confusing and loses its ability to Entertain as a Showpiece and inform as a Biography or even a semi-inclusive analysis of the machinations of the Mind/Leadership of this enduring 20th Century Anti-Establishment icon.There is so much left unanswered or glossed over and not much of any Political Science or Philosophy. It rests on Platitudes and Sound Bites, Images and Imagination of events, unwilling to dig deep or at least present events with enough substance to be stimulating.The Production wavers from very good pasted over with some lame and less than Dramatic effects and clichéd visual cheap shots. Not a bad introduction to the Man within His Time and Place, but considering its length, leaves the Viewer with an ambiguous feeling of the Man and His Mission, the overall effect on the Cuban People and in the end is weakened by a very weak ending.

The "gentleman" who commented on this film is obviously, and completely, biased against the good work that Fidel Castro and the Revolutionary movement did in Cuba...to quote from the film:On the American government..."Before 1959, all you wanted to do was exploit us. After 1959, all you wanted to do was destroy us. Now tell me...is THIS democracy?"Fidel Castro saved Cuba from the plight that so many small nations suffer from. United States Domination Syndrome. Look at Jamaica...the ads show smiling faces and sunny shores when 85% of the country lives in abject squalor as other countries and the rich within Jamaica profit from the hard work of the people.Long live Castro and the revolutionaries around the world who fight against oppression and domination in the name of money.This was an excellent film.

I was very surprised, and disappointed, at what I thought was a very amateurishly acted movie. I expected something dynamic, controversial, and last but not least, interesting. Instead the acting seemed wooden (I can't think of a better way to describe it), the characters, unlike their real-life counterparts, devoid of life. The word "amateurish" kept popping into my head as I watched what I could of it - then I just gave up. I'm assuming the actors and creative staff must know what they're doing, but it just didn't come together in this "production". I was almost embarrassed for all the people involved in the making of this film.

Georgie Anne Geyer's book on Castro was one of the sources for this "Fidel," which I saw just last night on cable. I know a lot about this really good reporter on Latin American affairs, who was at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, a few years before I majored in journalism at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.And also I was in college from 1957-1961, a college with students from all over the world, and I was hearing a lot about Battista in 1958 and 1959 and why he should be ousted.In three hours anyone who sees this version of "Fidel" can gain insight into why and how Castro gained power in Cuba. His excesses have come from not wanting to lose that power.