Che (Steven Soderbergh- 2008, The United States)

Positives:

      Steven Soderbergh directs an ambitious project that depicts the account of Che Guevara’s first and last missions in Cuba and Bolivia.  Interesting film techniques including voice overs, flash forwards, and the usage of black and white film.  A dramatic final thirty minutes portraying Che’s capture and execution puts a pulse back into the film.    

Negatives:

     At 4.5 hours running time the film is overlong, bloated, and tedious.  The film is split into two segments: Part one "The Argetine" depicting Guevara's experience in Cuba" and part two "Guerrilla" portraying Guevara's adventure in Bolivia.  The plot is unstructured, hard to follow, and repetitive as the second half nearly follows the second half in its unstructured structure  (Does that even make sense?).  For example the first 2/3rds of both segments of the film show the overly large ensembles training and living in jungles and the final 1/3^rd of each segment has the guerrilla forces battling.  Ultimately the film becomes true Cinema Verite as hours of the film literally depict Che and other guerrillas sitting around in jungles.    

     The character of Che is flat, static, and uninteresting which is coupled by Benicio del Toro’s un-inspiring performance which borders on mimicry.  He is shown as a complete good guy without vices or sins similar to a Robin Hood-esque character who only helps the poor and wants to create good.  This leads to a completely boring and uninteresting protagonist which creates and boring film.  Likewise, the large ensemble of characters leads to more disinterest as none of supporting characters are developed either and it is hard to tell many of the characters from each other.  Furthermore, the end of the film depicts Che’s capture and execution, but there is no emotional connect with Che because none has been created in the ample four hours that preceded it.

  

 

Grade: D