Review: Che (2008)

[Mark R. Leeper]

                                CHE
                (a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

     CAPSULE: Two more of Che Guevara's diaries are
     adapted into film.  Steven Soderbergh makes two
     long films that can be seen as one very long film
     covering Che's Cuban and Bolivian guerilla
     campaigns.  Benicio del Toro looks the part, but
     Soderbergh does little to flesh out his other
     characters.  Just following what is happening is
     hard work.  Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

CHE is not really one film but two.  When I saw it, it was in two
parts, one about the Cuban insurrection and one about the Bolivian
one.  Each part had opening titles and closing credits.  I do not
know if that is how it will be released, or if it will be stitched
together to make a single film.  It could even make a trilogy if
one included Walter Salles's film, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES.  All
three are based on the accounts of Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  "Part
One" is a dramatization of his REMINISCENCES OF THE CUBAN
REVOLUTIONARY WAR and "Part Two" of his BOLIVIAN DIARY.

Then again "Part One" and "Part Two" are really not so different.
They are accounts of Che in Cuba or Bolivia fighting in (or
slogging through) the forest or going into little towns to win
converts and to try to get food and weapons.  The two accounts are
somewhat disjointed dramatizations of what it is like to be a
guerilla.  The difference in the campaigns was probably that
Batista's Cuban army was not well trained and organized.  The
Bolivians seem more organized from the start and had training and
support from the United States.  They are much more effective
against the insurgency.  Intercut with the Cuban insurgency is a
sort of flash-forward to Guevara's 1964 trip to New York City to
address the United Nations, done in a sort of documentary style and
in grainy black and white.  We see just a bit of disdain as he
deals with Manhattan liberals, apparently feeling they only talk
the talk while he walks the walk--and incidentally, shouldn't he be
getting back to the revolution, any revolution?  He is at home in
the forest, not at a cocktail party.

One problem both parts have is that the films avoid expository
lumps to explain what is going on, but at some cost the
comprehensibility.  United States audiences may have trouble
telling characters (and occasionally armies) apart.  Keeping up
with the subtitles may be an additional problem, particularly since
there is not enough contrast with the background to make them
readable.  Shooting it English-for-Spanish would be an artificial
touch but would have made the film more clear.  Each part starts by
showing a map of the territory where that part takes place and one
at a time showing the important locations.  This is one step more
abstract than remembering people's names at parties.  Looking in on
the guerilla war for about 130 minutes each part may be taxing.
Seeing both films together may actually be something of a project.
In addition, director Stephen Soderbergh does little to
characterize the fighters or make clear what the strategies are.
Here there is an almost documentary style that is a little harder
to follow.  We get to see a little of Che's discipline and his
philosophy of fighting, but nobody beside Che is given much
dimension.

Most of the actors besides Benicio del Toro will probably be
unfamiliar to United States audiences.  "Part Two" has small
fleeting roles for Matt Damon and Lou Diamond Philips.  Joaquim de
Almeida may be familiar from CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and
DESPERADO.  The score by Alberto Iglesias is effective, but used
sparingly and is rarely used in battle scenes.  Soderbergh is going
for a natural documentary feel for the fighting and does not use
the music to orchestrate emotion.

By seeing the two revolutionary actions only through the eyes of
Che and then in a somewhat confused manner, the viewer will not get
a good understanding of the politics and will only get a feel of a
little of the experience.  Certainly the extremes of the Castro
Regime are played down with one quick reference that there were
executions when Castro took power.  This is not an objective view
of the conflict but only Che Guevara's view of himself.  I rate CHE
+1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10.

Film Credits:
"Part One": <http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0892255/>
"Part Two": <http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0374569/>


					Mark R. Leeper
					mleeper at optonline.net
					Copyright 2008 Mark R. Leeper