Hero Traitor Madness is a film that takes a look at the Cuban boxer as a kind of canary in the coalmine, focusing on what's gone on in Cuba the last 52 years and what comes next. The boxer is a lens into Cuban society itself, the values for which all Cubans struggle, and for this reason, the boxer's role in Cuba is more profound than anywhere else in the world.
We examine the most famous Cuban boxers who rejected millions to leave Cuba in the 70s, 80s and 90s -- boxers like Teofilo Stevenson, Felix Savon, and Hector Vinent -- and allow them to speak for themselves about their reasons for their decision. If the boxers who stayed in Cuba reflect the best values of the revolution, those boxers living in desperate enough circumstances to risk their lives in a smuggler's boat illustrate another reality.
A major turning point in Cuban society was when Guillermo Rigondeaux, in the summer of 2007, was caught attempting to defect in Brazil. Fidel Castro personally spoke out and called him a traitor. Each Cuban during this event, based on the condition of their own lives, was forced to consider whether in fact Fidel was the real traitor rather than Rigondeaux. More Cuban athletes than any time since Castro took power had been abandoning their country.
Rigondeaux's story is a kind of Rosetta Stone into what's come before and what comes next in Cuban society. Hero Traitor Madness is about Rigondeaux's split decision about remaining a "traitor" in Cuba or shipwrecking into the American Dream with the cost of losing his family, home, way of life, and having any safety net should anything go wrong.
Check out the official trailer below:
[EDITOR'S NOTE: FightHype would like to welcome the talents of Brin-Jonathan Butler to the team.]