AllMovie

In 1959, when Fidel Castro led a ragtag revolutionary army which miraculously overthrew the corrupt regime of Fulgencio Batista, he was hailed as a hero around the world, though many of the same people who praised him soon became his enemies when Castro installed a Communist government and entered into an alliance with the Soviet Union. Castro seemed to particularly enjoy baiting the United States of America (with his island only 90 miles from the Florida coast), but despite attempts on his life by the CIA, the enmity of a number of American presidents, the fall of the Soviet Union, and an economic stranglehold that threatens to starve his people, Castro remains a tenacious and charismatic leader who rules Cuba with an iron hand, though the man behind the image is known to only a trusted few. The American Experience: Fidel Castro is a documentary produced for PBS which profiles both the public leader and the private man, featuring interviews with family members, friends, political associates, writers, and activists who offer their perspectives on one of the most controversial leaders of the 20th century.