Cheap Cuba - The Forgotten Island (DVD) (Cuba-The Forgotten Island) Price

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Customer Reviews of Cuba - The Forgotten Island

"The writer tried to put together a complex history in a very short time. Among the misleading scenes were several showing Maya Indians in Cuba. There are no Indians in Cuba now, and the
Mayas were never inhabitants of Cuba."

Point #1 - the film never shows "Mayan Indians" in Cuba. Definitely not Mayan there. The real-life indigenous Amerinds were most likely tribes from the Amazonia region of
NE South America, who still live in much the same conditions as the pre-Columbian Indians of Cuba once did. If the
reviewer(s) would have listened carefully to the narrator, it would be clear that he was using these examples in the form of an artistic license to give the viewer an idea of what Cuban (Taino) Indian life might have been.

Fact: there are local Taino natives in Cuba, from Baracoa and, without a doubt, traces of the peaceful Taino Indians are still to be found in some people who live on the other large islands of
the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and elsewhere. The narrator can be faulted only for not tracking such ethnic groups down in Cuba itself.

"In reality the Cuba before Castro was prosperous with a strong middle class. The author neglected to compare these with the oppression, poverty and lack of morality that exists in the
Cuba of today. "

Point #2 - Wrong again. The film correctly portrays the oppression in Cuba under the Spanish, leading up to the
10 Years' War, and it briefly covers the rise of the decadence beginning with the US occupation after 1898.

Nice shots of the Morro Castle complex in the front of Havana's
harbour. Some interesting historical footnotes here.

Some excellent B&W archival footage of Castro, Guevara, Cienfuegos, et. al, in the early years of the Cuban Revolution.

The film has some beautiful footage of Cuba in all its lush greenery.

To those of us in the U.S. who are forbidden from traveling to Cuba (so much for "the land of the free"), this movie makes for an excellent alternative to the $5000 dollar fines issued by the US Dept. of Treasury, a penalty that awaits us for the 'crime' of reaching the first free territory of the Americas.

"The U.K. narrator maintains a neutral point of view throughout the film without getting sexually involved in the political things we have all heard enough about during the 1960s. He just presents the facts."

I agree completely here. It's clear to me that the film does justice to the Cuban Revolution today and we in the US can only hope for more DVDs coming out in this genre.

Needed: more focus on the years from the early 20th century leading up to the 1959 victory by the Cuban Rebel Army.

Pure Rubbish
This video contains selective, fictional accounts of Cuba's history... Not to mention the photos of the "aboriginal peoples" of Cuba are not those of Cuba. Yet another BFS piece of rubbish

Misleading
This history of Cuba is totally misleading. The chapter titled The Conquistadores was not only misleading but also inaccurate. The writer tried to put together a complex history in a very short time. Among the misleading scenes were several showing Maya Indians in Cuba. There are no Indians in Cuba now, and the Mayas were never inhabitants of Cuba. The author overemphasized the oppression of the Spaniards,and incorrectly portrayed the Cuba before Castro as a two-class country with low morality. In reality the Cuba before Castro was prosperous with a strong middle class. The author neglected to compare these with the oppression, poverty and lack of morality that exists in the Cuba of today. He neglected to mention that prostitution, gambling, and criminal activity are rampant in Castro's Cuba. His portrayal of Fidel Castro and his men as heroes is far from believable. This is propaganda piece from the Castro Regime. If you are interested in the history of Cuba, check your local library.