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. His victorious entrance into Havana with his rag tag army of revolutionaries was a magnificent spectacle. In my early teens I read the revolutionary diary and put up a poster of the even more charismatic Che Guevara. Then the dream soured. Castro installed himself as Premier (ie.Dictator) for life and for nearly half a century has ruled with an iron fist that brooks no dissent. He even sold out Che (a great career move for both) by getting him out of town to foment revolution in Bolivia then left him hanging. Che was soon captured and shot.
In Nobody Listened acclaimed cinematographer Nestor Almendros presents an endless misery marathon of testimony from one time allies and eventual victims of Castro's human rights abuses. Comrades who rode into Havana on the same vehicle with Castro in 59 were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, hard labor and torture. Some of the graphic testimony paints as clear a picture of Fidel's Stalinist form of Communism as Almendros impressive day job work and it is damning.
Left-wingers and admirers of "strong" dictators still caught up in the romance of the Cuban Revolution might complain the films damning slant does not give a balanced viewpoint. The litmus test for me are the words of Castro's fellow comrades who fought beside him with the same revolutionary fervor in 59 then found themselves arrested, tortured and sentenced to long prison stretches for questioning his method of rule. That and the fact that human rights abuse continues to be documented by objective observers bringing about a migration of thousands of people who over the years took to boat and risked their lives (many drowned) to escape this "Socialist Paradise". We may never know all the facts about Castro's Cuba but this film is a start. Until that day Che fashionistas can feel wholly justified in complaining about the human rights abuse at next door neighbor Guantanamo and proudly wear their trendy T emblazoned with the saintly visage of Castro's most famous executioner.
