The film is almost documentary in its portrayal of facts. It claims to be based strongly on facts, apart from some adaptations like merging various characters into one.
After two hours, the film changes dramatically. The first two hours are about the six years before the fall of Batista's dictatorship. The last hour is about the 40 years after that.
In the first two hours, Castro regularly distances himself from Communism and Communists, but after the take-over, the film suggests that Castro had always aspired a Marxist-Leninist State.