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Flicks - Che Che is a formally rigorous, impeccably directed masterwork. by Chris Dashiell - The Film Snob Che, Steven Soderbergh's new film about the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, is a daring experiment, one might even say a provocation, an epic that deliberately avoids all the conventions of the epic form. I find myself both gratified and astounded that a Hollywood director, who admittedly has never lost touch with his roots in independent film, would not only direct such a project, but do so in such a bold and unexpected fashion.
Che is divided into two parts, each a little over two hours long, released in separate but connected showings because the theater business, and the movie audience in general, is not accustomed to such length. Part one focuses on Che's participation in Fidel Castro's victorious guerilla campaign against the U.S.-backed Batista government from 1956 through 1958. Part two is about Che's failed attempt at leading an armed uprising against the Bolivian government in 1966 and '67. I must emphasize that although these are two discrete sections, both parts need to be seen in order to understand the film.
Benicio Del Toro, who co-produced the picture, plays the title role of Che, and it's one of those performances where an actor becomes so dissolved into the role that an almost incredible sense of authenticity is achieved. Indeed, the acting of all concerned is in line with Soderbergh's style, which is very direct and almost documentary-like. In the first part, the painstaking and laborious process of waging a guerilla war is portrayed in color sequences, intercut with black-and-white scenes involving Che's visit to the United Nations in 1964, after the revolution had succeeded and the West was still trying to grasp the nature of what had happened.
Soderbergh focuses almost exclusively on process—this, we are meant to see, is how it might feel to go through the day-to-day work and struggle of being a revolutionary. The New York sequences, on the other hand, allow a view of the ideology animating Che, along with observational details contrasting the hard life we are seeing in the jungle with the distancing effect of American politics in the 60s.
The film completely refrains from psychology. Soderbergh is not interested in creating a typical human interest type drama. Whatever emotions we may have watching the film are concentrated into Che's desire to create revolution, and all that this desire involves. This becomes even more evident in Part Two, where instead of victory, we witness this single-minded purpose running up against the reality principle, in the form of various political, social and military obstacles, and falling tragically short. The movie doesn't compromise its vision by trying to explain or even take sides, really. The intense realism is its own justification.
Che is a formally rigorous, impeccably directed masterwork.