Che

Che: Part One

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

Written by Peter Buchman
Based on the memoir "Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War"
by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Che: Part Two

Directed by
Steven Soderbergh

Written by Peter Buchman and Benjamin A. van der Veen
Based on Bolivian Diary by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Benicio Del Toro ... Ernesto Che Guevara
Rodrigo Santoro ... Raúl Castro
Demián Bichir ... Fidel Castro
Catalina Sandino Moreno ... Aleida March

Rated R
Runtime 4 hrs. 23 min.


The revolution began at a dinner party. Ernesto “Che” Guevara sits as a guest at a dinner table in an apartment in Mexico, waiting for Fidel Castro. We hear he is always late. He arrives and dinner is served, conversation and alcohol flow and cigar smoke fills the room. The conversation turns to the problems in Cuba. As I sat and watched these opening moments, my initial surprise at how mundane this all was gave way to the thought, “How else is a revolution supposed to begin?”

This opening scene sets the tone of the next 4 hours. Jokes have been made about this being a t-shirt biopic. In others’ hands, it very well could have. I mean, really, he’s a revolutionary, how much do you need to tell us? Just show us some guns and the rising up of those oppressed, some pretty speeches. Boom! Movie magic. Oscar gold. What Soderbergh understands is that these are short cuts. He’s not interested in telling us a good story as much as he is in presenting us with a fascinating individual.

Before I go further, I should let know that I was able to see the Special Roadshow edition which presents the entire 4 hr 23 min movie with a 15 minute intermission. Soon, the movie will be released as two parts. I don’t know that it will affect my review, but just know that you probably won’t have the opportunity to see it in this fashion.

The first part is concerned with both the Cuban revolution and Che’s visit to the UN in New York City. As much as I responded to the opening dinner scene, I still expected Che to find his footing in the jungles. To become the revolutionary we all expect to see. Soderbergh knows we expect this. One of the first images we see of Che in the jungle is him leaning on his rifle, wheezing from asthma. It’s these details that not only undercut the myth that has come to surround Che, but also to humanize him. One of my favorite details was Che’s seeming fascination with pockets. I don’t know how else to describe it. About halfway through the first part, I noticed that his shirt pockets were significantly fuller than they had been at the beginning. At the end of the second part, I noticed he had sewn pockets onto his pants that were stuffed as well.

The early scenes in the jungle show us a Che growing into a revolutionary. We see him bumble, lacking in confidence, being chastised by Fidel. Is it because he’s Argentine? Does he wonder what he’s doing there? It’s after the first significant battle, taking on a Cuban military base, when Che comes into his own. Fidel wants to move on. Che, a physician, wants to take care of the wounded. Get them to somewhere safe. He does so. It is at this point, as he states in the movie, that he becomes a revolutionary. When he realizes that the romance attached to the word is not always the reality. Or even necessary.

In an interview, Soderbergh has said his focus was originally Che’s time in Bolivia. It feels this way. Though the first part is longer, because of its divided and somewhat episodic nature (excepting the climactic battle in Havana), we get the sense this is prologue. We learn, through Cuba, what he did, and through the UN, we learn what he believes.

It leads us to Bolivia. For Fidel, the success of the revolution was enough. For Che, it had gotten into his blood. He tells Fidel he wants to bring revolution to the rest Latin America.

The second part is much more headlong in its execution. We know Che, we know how this works. We are immediately immersed in Bolivia, aware of the similarities. And more importantly, aware of the differences.

It’s difficult for me to sum up how I feel about the movie. Both parts begin with what is essentially an overture while maps of Cuba and Boliva, respectively, are highlighted, showing us regions and cities, giving the impression that these are places that will be important to the story. If this is the case, I’m not sure it was successful. I wasn’t always aware of where the rebels were in relation to anything. As I write this review, however, I feel that matters very little. So many biopics show us scenes hoping that they add up to a life. The problem is that the subjects are barely characters in their own stories. Where so many others have failed, Soderbergh succeeds. The logistics may have been lost on me, but I came away with an incredible picture of a man, Ernesto “Che” Guevara.