Review of Che: Part One (2008) by Bryan A — 19 Mar 2011

Director Steven Soderbergh makes a true biopic about the famous revolutionist, Che Guevara. This movie is thurough in it's adaptation and far away from "Hollywoodization". But is that a positive or it's weakness?

This epic tale is Part 1 of 2 movies. The first part follows Che's beginnings in Fidel Castro's revolution against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and the victorious battle that lead Cuba into communism. Based on the exploits written by Guevara himself, this movie follows his life as a soldier and an inspirational leader quite thuroughly. But the fact is, this movie follows his life too thuroughly, dragging the pacing of the movie so much into personalization and battle stratagies and politics that it becomes an extremely boring movie. If there's a positive to say it's that Benicio Del Toro was a perfect choice to portray Che.

Theoretically, this is not a badly made movie. In fact, this movie is extraordinarily well made. The filmming locations are incredable, and the use of it with the cinematography makes this movie beautiful to watch. Costumes and sets look spot on in order to make the viewer see the enviroment which Che was in. Steven Soderbergh really makes you feel what it must have been like to be in Che's situation: which was excruciating bordom. The pacing of this movie is just way to mellow and slow for anyone to watch, with small traces of action and shooting now and then, but not enough.

Is this a well made film? Yes. Is it a great biopic adaptation? Yes. Will you fall asleep watching it? Undoubtably. This is a unique movie that tells Che's story truthfully. But this movie is miles away from being entertaining.