Film: Che: Part One
Release date: 29th June 2009
Certificate: 15
Running time: 134 mins
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Julia Ormond, Benicio Del Toro, Rodrigo Santoro, Demián Bichir, Ramon Fernandez
Genre: Biography/Drama/History/War
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: France/Spain/USA
Otherwise known as The Argentine, Che: Part One is the first of two instalments from the director of Ocean’s Eleven, Steven Soderbergh, with Benicio Del Toro in the title role. The film was hotly anticipated on release, covering the life of the enigmatic Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the key revolutionary figure of Latin America during the 1950s and ‘60s.
Following the success of The Motorcycle Diaries in 2004, which documented Che’s beginnings as a revolutionary, Che: Part One picks up the story in Cuba, starting in 1955. The film opens with a flash-forward shot in black-and-white of an interview with Che in 1964. This commentary is interspersed with the events of the Cuban revolution, which charts Che’s varied career as commander, medic and revolutionary. The film also gives an insight into Che’s professional relationships and the conflicts involved, particularly with Fidel Castro.
This is also a war film, so this too builds in the plot; from the first missions with a group of rebels, to the recruitment and training of a revolutionary army, we get treks through the jungle, shootouts with Batista’s army, and the final culmination with the battle in Santa Clara. The documentary-style footage of the flash-forwards reflects the main events, with Che now a leader in Latin American politics answering questions in an interview and giving impassioned speeches to the UN...
From the first few scenes, this film is tantalizing, and promises so much, but it is strangely disappointing. There is no doubt that there are superb elements within it, but they do not quite come together. In the first half, the audience gets glimpses of Che, often hidden in shadows, as he struggles asthmatically through a forest, offers medical advice to a peasant worker, and trains new recruits, but he remains somewhat elusive. Part of the problem is the frequency of the cuts to the black-and-white footage, with the character giving a retrospective commentary on the events going on. This is effective, at first, but happens so often in the first half that it serves to act as a barrier between the audience and the main story, as it often cuts in just as you are getting swept up in the action. In the second half of the film, this happens less, and the viewer can get engrossed in the main action. However, it is at this point that Che emerges, fully-formed in the revolutionary image so well-known from t-shirts and magnets - there is the sense that the chance to really get to know this character has passed.
That is not to say that this is a terrible film - it is visually stunning, with verdant forests, bright Cuban towns and moody, and half-lit scenes in which Che and Castro exchange words which will change the future of Cuba. It also gives a real insight into the Cuban revolution, although this can be a little heavy at times. Benicio Del Toro is the star of this film; he puts in a career-defining performance and is utterly believable in his role. He is Che Guevara, whoever that may be.
Director Steven Soderbergh says that he was not interested in Che’s private life, how he got the nickname Che, or how he came to wear that beret. It is clear that he wanted to avoid the usual sentimentality of biopics, but this is where the film’s greatest flaw lies. By avoiding these subjects, we get to know very little about the man behind the symbol. The great success of The Motorcycle Diaries was that director Walter Salles humanised Che Guevara in a way that allowed the audience to get to know him, and he did this with very little sentimentality. In this film, Soderbergh does not give any insight Che’s personal life, and only a limited one into his ideology.
That said, there is a very real integrity to this film; the speeches at the UN are a great example of Del Toro truly inhabiting the character of Che Guevara, and he delivers the speeches with an authority and intelligence. This is the most obvious expression of Che’s values and beliefs, which are more understated elsewhere in the film. Furthermore, the decision to make this film in Spanish gives it an authenticity that would not have been achieved had it been done in English, as originally planned. It meant that the film lost out on funding from the US, but it would have had much less impact, and would have removed the audience from the story it is trying to tell.
Furthermore, despite its shortcomings, it does somehow leave you wanting more. The film builds to a crescendo in the final scenes, with a tense battle for Cuba that is as psychological as it is physical. Che’s reaction to the victory is unexpected in its control and measure; he warns his men that this is only the beginning of the revolution - that the real work is only just beginning. He remains as unknowable a character as he was at the beginning, but maybe, just maybe, in Che: Part Two, the real Ernesto “Che” Guevara will be revealed.
Soderbergh certainly knows how to hook viewers, and he portrays this portion of history with integrity. It does not quite live up to all its promises but there is something about it, as enigmatic as Che himself, that makes you want to go back for more. KS
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