I saw both Che: Part One and Che:Part Two in a row. For me it was important to see them together so I waited for the release of the second one. In this review I will be talking about both films more or less as a one.
The film is directed by Steven Soderbergh. He has an ability to joggle between big budget movies and small indie films without even breaking a sweat. Although he is not the safest bet, Soderberg has done quite a few amazing movies in the past like my absolute favorite Sex, Lies, and Videotape. He has always had a spesific way of telling stories trough his lens, all clearly influenced by cinema of the 70´s. When I went to see Che I was expecting more of the indie qualities to resurface, as they did, but I was blown away on how “arty” the film actually was. No, arty is not the right word, let´s say challenging.
STORY
The film itself is separated in two parts, each of them being a little over two hours long. In the first part we discover Ernesto “Che” Guevaras earlier years with Fidel Castro and his revolution in Cuba. Set in 1956, Che and a band of Castro-led Cuban exiles mobilize an army to topple the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The second part is set years later in 1966, when Che has left his family and countrymen in Cuba and gone to Bolivia, to to start another revolution. There he lives his life in disguise. This time the revolutionarys are not that revolutionary and everything goes to hell in the end. The movie is mostly set in forests and it consentrates on showing what being a guerilla or a true revolutionary really means. It basically means little or no food, being on the mercy of the weather and just waiting around in the woods doing nothing, with the ocational gun fights and blowing things up bits.
Che is unique in the sence that there is nothing glamorous about it and it definitely doesn´t glorify the revolutionaries or even the ideals. It just is what it is.The film format itself is very demanding and it doesn´t underestimate the audience, not at all. This I thought was especially good about the movie. After seeing the movie, I felt almost proud of seeing it. The film really made me think about the modern cinema and how easy everything has been made to the audience these days.
CAST & CHARACTERS
Che has an amazing cast and I don´t mean it like it would be packed with Hollywood A-listers. In fact it is the exact opposite. Of course we have the amazing Benicio Del Toro in one the best performances of his life, but other than that the cast is very unkown. Well Matt Damon is in the film for 5 minutes and Franka Potente has a smallish role but that´s it. Demián Bichir is playing Fidel Castro and he is absolutely perfect for the role. Not only is he the spitting image of a young Castro, he is also a great actor and gives an amazing perfomance. You almost feel bad that you don´t get to see him trouhg the whole film. There is not even one bad performances in Che, the casting is just perfect in every possible way.
One of the most interesting directorial choices in the movie was the distance that was kept from the main character Che. You would imagine that a film maker would want to revile some things about the iconic person and bring depth to the charecter, but not Soderberg. I didn´t have that much trouble with this, because I think Soderberg wanted to maintain Ches symbolic and iconic status, much like that famous picture. Only problem with this kind of story telling is that you don´t feel very much emotion, fear or love for your character.
GENERAL BABLE
I spesifically want to give extra credit to Soderberg for doing this movie in the original languages. This almost never happens with American cinema. Everyone speaks English everywhere. Or even worse, they speak english with fake accents. I hate that by the way! I think the only one who has done it succesfully is Steven Spielberg in for example Schindler’s List. People actually have their own languages all over the world, so why not speak them. Most American´s won´t read subtitles and even the notion of something foreing makes them run. Too bad for the rest of the world…
I do have to say that it is a miracle that Soderberg has ever gotten the green light for this project. Don´t get me wrong, I liked it very much, but this movie is NOT for the masses. In fact the film has flopped quite badly everywhere. I´m not surprised. The film is allot to take in, but it is also one of the most interesting ones I´ve seen in while. But I still think it is a damn shame that people don´t seem to be very open for different things.
CONCLUSION
Negatives:
- Matt Damon (he is in the film only 5 minutes, but still)
- There was something weird in the use of music
- Ok, it was a little boring.
Positives:
- Cast (especially Benicio Del Toro and Demián Bichir)
- Language (all original languages, you don´t see that too often)
- Locations (beautiful and ugly at the same time, felt really genuaine)
- Realism (realism is boring, and so was this film at times, but that is real)
Che is a very good movie. It is not your typical biopic, it is raw, honest and demanding. My advice to everyone is to go see the both parts in the same day. I kown allot of people who are still wondering if they shoud go see it, to them I say YES if you want to be challenged to something different and NO if you don´t.
- Essi
