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| Saul Landau obituary | Saul Landau obituary |
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| In 1970, New York's Fifth Avenue Cinema was bombed and the Haymarket theatre in Los Angeles was burned down in order to prevent a certain movie from being screened. The inflammatory film was Fidel, a documentary directed by Saul Landau, who has died aged 77 of bladder cancer. | In 1970, New York's Fifth Avenue Cinema was bombed and the Haymarket theatre in Los Angeles was burned down in order to prevent a certain movie from being screened. The inflammatory film was Fidel, a documentary directed by Saul Landau, who has died aged 77 of bladder cancer. |
| Fidel, the cause of anger among anti-Castro Cuban exiles, was the extraordinary film record of a weeklong jeep tour of the eastern mountains region of Cuba on which Landau accompanied Castro in 1968. The 95-minute feature, which de-demonised the charismatic Cuban leader for the American public, was finally shown in selected theatres around the US and on the PBS network, except in Florida. A bomb was thrown through a window at a New York television station during the broadcast. | Fidel, the cause of anger among anti-Castro Cuban exiles, was the extraordinary film record of a weeklong jeep tour of the eastern mountains region of Cuba on which Landau accompanied Castro in 1968. The 95-minute feature, which de-demonised the charismatic Cuban leader for the American public, was finally shown in selected theatres around the US and on the PBS network, except in Florida. A bomb was thrown through a window at a New York television station during the broadcast. |
| Landau, who made several pro-Cuban films, and many other left-leaning features and television documentaries, suffered death threats throughout his career, mainly because of his criticism of US foreign policy, especially towards Latin America. "Terrorism has been the leitmotif of US policy beginning in 1959," he claimed. But Landau, despite some of his provocative pronouncements, was no mere firebrand. Sustained by a dry sense of humour, he was also a soft-spoken professor emeritus at California State Polytechnic University, where he taught history and digital media and inspired generations of students. | Landau, who made several pro-Cuban films, and many other left-leaning features and television documentaries, suffered death threats throughout his career, mainly because of his criticism of US foreign policy, especially towards Latin America. "Terrorism has been the leitmotif of US policy beginning in 1959," he claimed. But Landau, despite some of his provocative pronouncements, was no mere firebrand. Sustained by a dry sense of humour, he was also a soft-spoken professor emeritus at California State Polytechnic University, where he taught history and digital media and inspired generations of students. |
| Nor were his films blindly partisan – he often gave opponents screen time to express their views – and his opinion of Castro's Cuba, though it remained supportive, became less rosy over the years. "If the US really wanted to change Cuba, just lift the embargo and Cuba is changed in a week," Landau remarked. | Nor were his films blindly partisan – he often gave opponents screen time to express their views – and his opinion of Castro's Cuba, though it remained supportive, became less rosy over the years. "If the US really wanted to change Cuba, just lift the embargo and Cuba is changed in a week," Landau remarked. |
| Born in the Bronx, New York, Landau graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a master's degree in history, joined a theatre group in San Francisco and became involved in investigative journalism. "I first went to Cuba when I was a student in 1960, a year after the revolution," Landau recalled. "I hitchhiked through the country to find out what a revolution was like. I also saw a lot of violence and bombs exploding. And all those bombs were coming from Florida." | Born in the Bronx, New York, Landau graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a master's degree in history, joined a theatre group in San Francisco and became involved in investigative journalism. "I first went to Cuba when I was a student in 1960, a year after the revolution," Landau recalled. "I hitchhiked through the country to find out what a revolution was like. I also saw a lot of violence and bombs exploding. And all those bombs were coming from Florida." |
| Eight years later, Landau was given unprecedented access to Castro, filming the leader as he travelled around the country connecting with his people. In the 16mm handheld-camera colour footage, Castro is seen meeting farmers and soldiers, visiting the school he attended as a child, joining in a baseball game, talking to village elders and kissing babies. From in-depth interviews, we get to know Castro, both as a private man and a politician. | Eight years later, Landau was given unprecedented access to Castro, filming the leader as he travelled around the country connecting with his people. In the 16mm handheld-camera colour footage, Castro is seen meeting farmers and soldiers, visiting the school he attended as a child, joining in a baseball game, talking to village elders and kissing babies. From in-depth interviews, we get to know Castro, both as a private man and a politician. |
| With the cinematographer Haskell Wexler, Landau co-directed Brazil: A Report on Torture (1971), which powerfully details the atrocities committed by the US-backed military regime against civilians and students who were opposed to the dictatorship, and who managed to survive to tell their stories. | With the cinematographer Haskell Wexler, Landau co-directed Brazil: A Report on Torture (1971), which powerfully details the atrocities committed by the US-backed military regime against civilians and students who were opposed to the dictatorship, and who managed to survive to tell their stories. |
| Wexler was the cinematographer on Landau's Emmy-award winning documentary Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang (1979), an effective exposé of the government cover-up of the health hazards related to the 1950s atomic bomb testing in Nevada; and on The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1996), which viewed the Zapatistas as defenders of peasants' rights who chose guerrilla tactics after civil methods were closed to them by an immutable Mexican government. | Wexler was the cinematographer on Landau's Emmy-award winning documentary Paul Jacobs and the Nuclear Gang (1979), an effective exposé of the government cover-up of the health hazards related to the 1950s atomic bomb testing in Nevada; and on The Sixth Sun: Mayan Uprising in Chiapas (1996), which viewed the Zapatistas as defenders of peasants' rights who chose guerrilla tactics after civil methods were closed to them by an immutable Mexican government. |
| At the age of 74, Landau made Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up? (2010), his last film. This revelatory documentary dealt with the Cuban Five, spies sent by the Castro government to infiltrate terrorist organisations in Miami and given lengthy prison sentences. "The Cuban Five had the same chance of getting a fair trial in Miami that a Jew would have gotten in Berlin in 1938," Landau declared. | At the age of 74, Landau made Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up? (2010), his last film. This revelatory documentary dealt with the Cuban Five, spies sent by the Castro government to infiltrate terrorist organisations in Miami and given lengthy prison sentences. "The Cuban Five had the same chance of getting a fair trial in Miami that a Jew would have gotten in Berlin in 1938," Landau declared. |
| Among the books he wrote were A Bush and Botox World: Travels Through Bush's America (2007), with a foreword by Gore Vidal, who confessed: "Saul Landau is a man I love to steal ideas from." In one of his last articles, Take Syria Seriously – and Stay Out, Landau continued to criticise American interventionism in the affairs of a sovereign nation. | Among the books he wrote were A Bush and Botox World: Travels Through Bush's America (2007), with a foreword by Gore Vidal, who confessed: "Saul Landau is a man I love to steal ideas from." In one of his last articles, Take Syria Seriously – and Stay Out, Landau continued to criticise American interventionism in the affairs of a sovereign nation. |
| He is survived by his wife, Rebecca Switzer, and a son and four daughters from his first marriage, to the poet Nina Serrano. | He is survived by his wife, Rebecca Switzer, and a son and four daughters from his first marriage, to the poet Nina Serrano. |
| • Saul Landau, film director, producer and writer, born 15 January 1936; died 9 September 2013 | • Saul Landau, film director, producer and writer, born 15 January 1936; died 9 September 2013 |
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