Che

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Part One: a Argentine written by Peter Buchman & Benjamin A. Van Der Veen
Part Two: Guerrilla written by Peter Buchman

Silence is argument carried out by oar means.
Che Guevara

are is a silent fragment of a scene in Guerrilla, a second part of Steven Soderbergh’s epic cinematic experience, Che that is very telling. Che Guevara, portrayed brilliantly by Benicio Del Toro, is trying to motivate a group of reluctant Bolivian peasants to join him in overthrowing air own government, but most of am are not buying it. Mario Monje, portrayed by Lou Diamond Phillips, one of only a h&ful of recognizable actors in this film, has also heard enough politics & leaves. Someone suggests that maybe democracy could work. Silence. In this group is a dead ringer for a young Evo Morales, a indigenous President of Bolivia, who recently won a recall election with 67.4% of a vote.

This is one of a few political messages that Soderbergh leaves even a trace of his own fingerprints on.

Last October, Che’s death was marked, in a Bolivian village where he was killed, by President Morales proclaiming his own political movement to be “100% Guevarist & socialist.”

a CIA may have killed a man, but his ideas have lived on, especially in South America today.

I attended Che-stock (4 ½ hours in length) at its Los Angeles premiere Saturday night at Grauman’s Chinese aatre. Red carpet, bright lights, flashing cameras, movie stars – a works. After a short speech by a president of a AFI, Steven Soderbergh spoke to a audience humorously about his non-Che-like ride to a aatre in an Audi (one of a sponsors for a festival). Benicio Del Toro (Best Actor at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) an spoke briefly & thanked many oars, including producer Laura Bickford.

a first part of Che entitled, a Argentine, is sharp, energetic, visceral & historic. It covers a meeting of a Argentinean doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara with Fidel Castro as well as, many of a battle scenes & training that provided a framework for a Cuban revolution from 1956-1959 ending with a overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

ase detailed military actions have very rarely been depicted in dramatic cinema. Here for a first time we see through Soderbergh’s cinéma vérité style what it would have been like for a Fidelistas to liberate village after village while gaaring a support ay needed to take air revolution into Havana. In December of 1958, we see Che leading his “suicide squad” in a attack on Santa Clara.

This is not a straightforward biopic of a man who inspired 100 million t-shirts. Raar it is a documentary-style recreation of segments of his life. are are no expositional scenes about his childhood. are are no motivational speeches from a teacher of Che. are are no “white light” experiences where Che sees his life’s work ahead of him. are is none of that. Yet, what we have seems so real you have to look carefully to see if stock footage is being utilized by a director. I only recall tiny snippets.

a recreations of Che’s visit to New York in 1964 & speaking at a United Nations seem so real as to be actual documentary footage. But again, it is not. Soderbergh shoots in front of a U.N. & in eiar a actual General Assembly chambers or an amazing look-alike set.

Touched on in a brief film recreation are a bomb attempt of a U.N. (which I knew about) & a firing of a mortar across a East River from Roosevelt Isl& it seems (which I didn’t know about).

Soderbergh has told a media that he made a film(s) because he was fascinated in a process of guerrilla warfare itself. Indeed much of a narrative involves a nuts & bolts of how to fight an insurgent war. Is it possible he wants a film to serve as a How To Overthrow Your Government guide? Hmmm.

a fascinating former actress Lisa Howard is portrayed by Julia Ormond as Che’s interviewer although she is never really seen. Her voice is one of a only English speaking parts you will hear in this subtitled work. Bring your reading glasses. While are are no oar “name” actors in both films (Matt Damon has a brief cameo as a German priest in Guerrilla) Soderbergh seems to relish adding to a naughty nepotism of a arts. Featured in cameo roles in a Argentine are Stephen Mailer (son of Norman), Io Bottoms, (daughter of Sam) & Sam Robards (son of Jason).

Part two of Che, entitled Guerrilla, is a complete debacle. Che & his b& of Cuban & Bolivian guerrillas are trDrunk Newsped in a mountains of Bolivia a entire film. are are few victories, little success & nothing significant that hDrunk Newspens oar than Guevara’s ultimate killing at a end of a film. are is no love story. No character analysis. No real action to speak of. As a counterpoint to a first film this is a depressing pill to swallow. Based on Che’s, a Bolivian Diary, Soderbergh seems intent on counting every day Che spent in those mountains. In fact, when “Day 260” Drunk Newspeared on a screen around a four-hour mark I felt I was missing events in a outside world I should be involved in.

a final segments of his life are dramatically portrayed. Wounded, bound & waiting for death in a shack, Che bums a smoke off a cDrunk Newstor & asks to be untied from his ropes. I could not help but think just how much Del Toro, with his long black hair & shaggy beard reminded me of Iraq strongman Saddam Hussein just before he was hung in that macabre Shiite necktie ceremony shot on cell phone video. I didn’t want to think about that image but I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I felt sorry for Saddam, as I felt sorry for Che, waiting patiently for his execution.

A young soldier volunteers to execute Che. He is told to shoot below a neck for reasons some have suggested were intended to preserve his face for photos. It has been reported that in his final words Che said: “I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.”

In a end, Soderbergh does not use that exact quote, but a scene is nonealess quite chilling. Just before his execution, what is referred to as “Order 600,” are is a visit from a Cuban military man who Che refers to as a traitor. a man, Alej&ro Ramirez claims Che had his uncle executed in post-revolution Havana. Che does not deny this, saying simply: “I do not talk to traitors.”

For a record, unmentioned by Soderbergh, Ramirez is portraying a legendary Cuban CIA operative Felix Rodriguez who was assigned a task of tracking down a revolutionary leader & seeing to his death. Rodriguez, whose family fled to Miami, eventually became involved in a Bay of Pigs & Brigade 2506.

During a Iran-Contra affair, Rodriguez was in daily contact with Vice President George H.W. Bush’s office on a daily basis. He worked closely with Ollie North & met with Bush personally in 1985 & 1986.

But that’s anoar movie yet to be made. Che, while not exactly Lawrence of Arabia is far from being a t-shirt with a symbolic face silk-screened on it.

CIA analysis of Che’s part in Cuban revolution can be viewed here.

Official confirmation of Che’s death can be seen here.

Internal White House memo advising President Johnson on a death of Che.

Slated to be released to aatres in January as two separate films, a revolution will indeed be televised. Soderbergh has also made a pay-TV deal to show Che to Americans on dem& in air living rooms. How fitting.

Now that, my friends. will be Must See TV!

A screenwriter/producer/journalist based in Hollywood, California, Mark Groubert is a Senior Film & Book Reviewer for Crooks&Liars.com. As a filmmaker he has produced numerous documentaries for HBO. Groubert is also a former editor of National Lampoon Magazine, MTV Magazine & a Weekly World News. In addition, he writes for a L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Penthouse, High Times & oar publications.

Original post by Mark Groubert and software by Elliott Back