Arena

Episode Synopsis

Cuba's legendary capital, once a playground for the rich, has an extraordinary faded beauty with its grand colonial palaces decaying into crumbling tenements. Since the popular revolution 30 years ago, Cuba has been viewed by the west as the acceptable face of communism, with Dr Fidel Castro seen as a folk hero and a benevolent dictator. But Cuban writers and artists in exile tell a different story - one of unspoken repression and intolerance. This Arena special goes behind the once great city's public face, persuading its inhabitants to speak intimately about their lives and revealing a Havana previously unseen. The film tells its story through the work of Cuba's greatest writers and artists, both in exile and at home, but mainly through the eyes of the people of the city of Havana.