Review of Che: Part One (2008) by Alex M — 12 Dec 2009

This film was always going to cause a market boom in the Che-Brand, but before I watched it I was worried about what it would do to the memory of by far the greatest Revolutionaire of all time, Ernesto Guevara.

I shouldn't have worried, as both Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro honoured Che's memory, presenting the viewer with a beautifully planned and incredibly portrayed story of how this humble and principled Argentinian Doctor overcame his misgivings and awkwardness at being a foreigner amongst a host of Cubans, in order to become the rock star of guerrila revolutionaries.

The film was never biased against Che, although, regretably, apart from several instances of him having to act out revolutionary code (this may seem barbarous, but a revolutionary movement cannot survive through insubordination, internal divide, and desertion, and, for the good of the group individuals must thus be tried and punished using this code), it was often biased in his favour.

Che was a revolutionary to the core, he was by no means as nationalistic as his partner's in crime, Fidel and Raul, and he dreamed of a Latin America in which freedom and liberty prevailed, run by the people and not US-backed military dictatorships, and over which the imperialist yankee pig dogs had no hold. He was not as simply explained as "A Guerrilla" or "A Communist" or "A Murderer", and he was a multi-faceted human being, being a very deep-thinking person, a lover, a fighter, a healer, a humanitarian, but in most of his endeavours he was honourable, honest, and morally uncorrupted. This is not to say, however, that this was always the case, and everyone is fallible and has flaws (even Ghandi liked to sleep naked next 12 year old girls ;) I just hope that these are exposed and explored more in the Part 2, as I would hate for this to be a showcase of the awesomeness of this deity, without any expression of the weaknesses that made him a man.