Risky Films

Who I'd like to meet:

Fidel Castro gained power in Cuba on New Years Day in 1959, by staging a guerilla war against the army of President Fulgencio Batista. The war took many years of dedicated and strategic fighting alongside his brother Raul and the Argentinean revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. They successfully freed the country of its corrupt dictator and the people cheered on the streets in support of Fidel. Soon after, Castro began to steer the country towards Communism, nationalizing banks, farms and American owned business. The pro-democracy Cubans that expected freedom, an honest government, and a return to the constitution, instead got a Stalinist style government where brutal force, jail, and even death were used to sustain the people. Castro kept his power through fear, secret police, and political force much like Hitler and Stalin. Many fled the country to the Untied States at this time, and many more continue to flee to this day.

Castros friendships with the old Soviet Union and more recently with the Marxist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez continue to upset the US government today. Bringing up the question if the US will step in and remove the Communist state once its poster child Fidel Castro is gone? If so, why hasnt the worlds most dominant Democratic force done it yet? Dozens of supposed plots to overthrow the government and over 600 attempts to assassinate Castro have failed. How can the US justify the war in Iraq and ignore the tyranny occurring just 90 miles from our soil?

But more importantly, do the people of Cuba really feel that way? Are they oppressed? Are they happy? If they are not, can they even say they are not? Fear of being jailed, like so many government critics have been for even speaking poorly about Castro, must have a bias affect. How about a current revolution for democracy? Will the people support it?

In CUBA: The Aftermath or The Beginning?, we will explore the countrys largest city and capital, Havana, and travel to the outer cities and farm lands as far as Oriente to find out where the support is and where the Cuban people stand. We will ask why the Cuban people still feel the need to flee across the Caribbean in rafts and leaky boats to reach political freedom. All these questions, we hope, will be answered by the people, who are the ones who need to make the decision: Will the end of Castro be the end of Cubas socialism? Will the US be welcome? The Cuban people, strong and self-righteous, will let us know soon enough.

The points and questions brought up will be a part of this documentary/adventure/firsthand look at a moment in political history of a country where 2/3 of the population has known no other leader. Will they support his views after his death? Or will the Western influence overtake an old and outdated vision? We hope to find out and hope to give a voice to the people who have not had a voice in over 47 years.