"You said Mickey Mouse was a Fascist!"

I have two younger siblings, one 9 years old, the other 5 and I cannot imagine their lives being upturned by the introduction of communist ideals into the house. My parents have always been very left wing, but not so much that they allow 'barbudos' into their home and trade in their house for a flat which they transform into socialist headquarters. It is this idea, of total chaos within ones habitat, of young children becoming involved in the politics of their parents, that makes this film so unbelievable. It is also this idea, of a child holding a personal grudge against Fidel Castro, that makes this film so appealing.

Blame it on Fidel! does nothing wrong. It explores moral and political concepts through the eyes of a child who in school ultimately begins to employ communist ideals... as games. The visual aspects of the film are beautful; red, yellow and blue are prominent, evoking time and place (France during 1970's) and inkeeping with the idea of 'red' as Communisms signiature.

Nina Kervel-Bey is one of those children that was meant to act. She is so convincing as an innocent, yet rebellious Anna De la Mesa that you turly feel she's real, and this close association with her character results in a similar feeling towards the young Marjan Satrapi in Persepolis. She's charming, feisty, inquisitve, clever and, most of all, wise beyond her years. If sympathy is evoked in this film, it is only slashed away by Anna's sharp words.

This film is very pro-Socialism, which may be off-putting to some, however if all advocates of Communism were little, feisty, red-coated girls, and all believers in Capitalism were the adults around them, it'd be a tough fight, and one where the victorious would certainly be most unlikely.