[NYTr] DVD Times Review: 638 Ways to Kill Castro
 
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 20:30:04 -0500 (CDT)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[sent by Jane Franklin, this review is apparently from something called 
"DVD Times" -- which apparently means the Brit Channel 4 Documentary is
now available on DVD. -NY Transfer]

DVD Times - Aug 7, 2007
(no url supplied)

638 Ways To Kill Castro

Stephen Pile, in his Book Of Heroic Failures, wrote that the least 
successful assassination attempts in our history were perpetrated upon
Fidel Castro, who, given their lack of success, remains as leader of
Cuba. A poisoned milkshake, rather than being stored in a fridge, was
placed in a freezer instead and proved impossible to drink. Three men
carrying a bazooka were arrested whilst crossing a university campus
while an explosion missed Castro entirely but took out many of the
traffic lights in Havana. The CIA did also try exploding cigars before
sending a female assassin to Havana to serve Castro a poisoned meal.
She, however, fell in love with him.

638 Ways To Kill Castro is not a comedy. Neither is it a look at very
many of those 638 unsuccessful ways that the CIA and others tried to
kill Castro. Instead, this documentary goes some way to describing who
Castro is, why so many people might want to kill him and why a country
that neighbours Cuba would be so hypocritical as to say that it will
never knowingly harbour any terrorist while doing just that. To Pile's
frozen milkshake, 638 Ways To Kill Castro adds a poisonous ballpoint
pens and a radio studio filled with gas. To the long list of those
defending Castro, it adds Fabian Escalante, who places a hefty folder
on his desk whilst claiming that it contains details on over 600
attempts on Castro's life. At first, it was only the bungled attempts
by the CIA that Escalante had to concern himself with but very soon, he
also had to be wary of the many Cuban exiles entering Cuba. Eventually,
Escalante had to turn his attention to the US and to the actions of
exiles against Cuba's economic interests, including, most famously, the
bombing of Cubana Flight 455 on 6 October 1976 in which all
seventy-three passengers and crew were killed.

The setting up of the story allows for a very brief history of the
Cuban revolution. Castro and Che Guevara are discussed in some detail,
not least the killing of the latter in Bolivia and the publicity
surrounding his death. Then alone, Castro remained in Cuba but rather
than painting an altogether flattering picture of the man, 638 Ways To
Kill Castro shows how Castro was unrepentant in rooting out those he
considered enemies of the state. The film includes shocking footage of
a police officer from the pre-revolution days being executed by firing
squad.

That, however, is not what the film is interested in. We have had much
the same story about Castro for fifty years or thereabouts, often with
Jim Fitzpatrick's famous printing of Alberto Korda's photograph of Che
Guevara alongside it. 638 Ways To Kill Castro is much more interested
in the would-be assassins, their attempts to kill Castro and how proud
they are, in spite of their Catholic faith, to have been a part of a
plot to murder. One such killer is Antonio Veciana who was close to
killing Castro on three occasions but failed in each of his efforts. He
now runs a marine supplies store in Miami but remains proud of what he
did. And so too are his sons and grandchildren. Luis Posada Carriles
and Orlando Bosch are both now living in Miami are shown to be keen
landscape painters but 638 Ways To Kill Castro never lets the viewer
forget what it is these men are accused of. In particular, Carriles and
Bosch are thought to have been the men behind the bombing of Cubana
Flight 455 and the film, as well as writer Ann Louise Bardach who is
interviewed, explains the hypocrisy between what Presidents George and
George W Bush say and their attitude towards suspected terrorists
Carriles and Bosch, all, it would appear, to ensure Jeb Bush remains on
the side of the Cuban Americans living in Florida.

One of George W Bush's more famous declarations regarding the war on
terror was that, "If anybody harbours a terrorist, they're a
terrorist...I can't make it any more clearly [sic] to other nations."
Bardach notes that when Bosch re-emerged in 1989 and was arrested for a
parole violation, Republican politician Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who was
then running for a seat in Florida and was being assisted by a young
advisor called Jeb Bush, began a campaign to free Orlando Bosch.
Despite protests from the US justice department, even from Bush's own
Attorney General who described Bosch as a terrorist, Bush granted Bosch
a pardon. Bosch, when interviewed, is unrepentant, claiming that it
wasn't just Cubana 455 but two other flights as well as firing a
bazooka at a ship in Miami that was bound for Cuba. He admits that he
should deny any involvement but, as he figures it, he's proud of his
actions. There are more level heads, such as former US diplomat Wayne
Smith, who says, "We're unable to deal rationally with Cuba." The film
makes the point that little Cuba is cast as the David to the US's
Goliath by America itself, which has been the case over the last fifty
years.

638 Ways To Kill Castro isn't a very long film but makes its points
very well and with no small amount of style. Certainly, it's heavily
influenced by Adam Curtis, not least The Power Of Nightmares, but it
has a voice all of its own and though it is, in its showing of Cuba in
a very flattering light, partisan and that may put some off. However,
it is entertaining, has some insight but ends on an odd note, saying
that Castro will now be allowed to die naturally. After 638 attempts on
his life, I doubt if his enemies are preparing to give up just yet.

Originally shown on Channel 4, 638 Ways To Kill Castro is not a
particularly impressive-looking documentary although it has moments
when its use of archive footage really does stand out. Typically,
though, it's a fairly dry-looking documentary with a mix of footage
taken in Havana, Miami and, with the many interviews featured in the
film, in various hotel rooms, studios and Miami homes. However, the DVD
transfer is generally fine throughout. It's not a particularly sharp
film and there's very little detail outside of the Dream On-styled
archive clips but it's a film in which what is being said is much more
interesting than how it is being said. So if 638 Ways To Kill Castro is
only a very ordinary-looking DVD release, it does help that it tells a
great story. Similarly, the DD2.0 is nothing special but there is very
little background noise, everything sounds pretty good and there's a
nice use of background music to jolly the tone of a film about murder.
However, what is worth saying is that the film is subtitled throughout
as are the bonus features. 

Extras

Interview With Dollan Cannell (27m11s): Director Cannell, who appears 
sitting in front of an editing suite just to let us know that he really
is a director, takes us through the background to the film and a brief
overview of many of the points made by the film. In describing the
finding of a book while on holiday in Cuba, which detailed many of the
six-hundred-plus assassination attempts, he talks about why the film
was made before going on to answer questions on the would-be assassins,
why they tended towards failure and why there is a sense of pride in
Miami as to these attempts.

Interview with Jimmy Carter (12m28s): Yes, that Jimmy Carter. This 
interview, which was not used in the film, allows the ex-president to
talk about the US foreign policy as regards Cuba during his time in
office and in the years afterwards. Granted, he does tend towards
flattering his own time in office, largely blaming Castro for failing
to have diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, and damns those
Republican presidents thereafter, particularly George W Bush but he
sets out his case well

Interview with Miami Detective (8m06s): Not just any old Miami
detective but one involved in the arrest of a number of Cuban exiles
who found those he'd just brought in having access to some of the very
best attorneys. Under interview, one of his arrests admitted to a
knowledge of the bombing of Cubana 455 with this interview detailing
what happened thereafter, being a detective who suddenly found himself
learning what had happened to the flight but unable to do very much
about it.

Interview with Ricardo Alarcon (3m34s): Alarcon is President of the
Cuban National Assembly and given that his interview is described as
being on Luis Posada Carriles and George Bush's war on terrorism, it's
fair to say that he takes his three-and-a-half minutes to explain the
hypocrisy inherent in the situation. With Bosch and Carriles being
harboured by the US, he does have a case. And he knows it, making it
several times.

Interview with Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (1m22s): Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a 
Republican Congresswoman for Florida and denied ever having said that
she would welcome the assassination of Fidel Castro, perhaps thinking
that a politician and Christian ought not to be so willing to embrace
the murder of a world leader. Unfortunately, what she says is, "I
welcome the opportunity of having anyone assassinate Fidel Castro and
any leader who is oppressing the people." And she says it here.

Interview with Tom Parrott (8m06s): Parrott was the secretary for a
secret American policy group in the 1960s with a special interest in
Cuba. Parrott reveals the occasional moments of insanity in their
plotting, such as an idea to make Castro's beard fall out, to have him
discovering an exploding seashell, the poisoning of a shipment of
sugar, exploding cigars and the claim that Castro was the Antichrist.
He even affords himself a laugh when he remembers the plan to fire star
shells just on the horizon and to report to Cuba that this was a
message from God. Parrott doesn't look as though he took any of this
very seriously, less so when Bobby Kennedy appeared to take the Castro
situation personally, often losing his temper with the various failures
to kill the Cuban leader.

Interview with Richard Goodwin (4m00s): Goodwin was a speech writer and 
advisor to John F Kennedy and after showing us many of the photographs
on the wall, talks about Kennedy's problem with Cuba but admits the
president could not have done anything more than he did. There is,
however, a cryptic comment that there were others in administration who
mentioned executive action, being a euphemism for assassination.

Interview with Otto Reich (6m32s): Reich is a Cuban-American politician
and has held positions under Presidents Reagan and George W Bush. Bush
appointed Reich as assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere
affairs, which included Cuba and South America but is perhaps more
famous for his assisting Orlando Bosch in his bid to enter the US and
gain a pardon via Jeb and George W Bush. That is touched upon here and
nor indeed is very much. Reich is too skilled to allow himself be
caught by the questions set by the interviewer.

 
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