Che Part One (DVD)

Poor old Che Guevara. Here was a man who dedicated his life to the cause of global revolution. Now, half a century on, communism (despite capitalism’s recent setbacks) is hardly in the ascendant and Che’s image is better known for its use as a highly profitable T-shirt design than for anything else.

Aiming to redress the balance, Stephen Soderbergh’s two part biopic conveniently picks up a couple of years after the last major film about Guevara – Walter Salles’s picturesque The Motorcycle Diaries - left off. Opening in Mexico in 1955, with the young Argentine’s first encounter with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro (Bichir), the film follows him to Cuba and becomes a leading figure in the movement which ultimately overthrew Cuba’s nasty US backed dictator General Batista in 1959.

If all this sounds a bit heavy going, thankfully Soderbergh keeps things simple: one character helpfully describes the political situation in Cuba in the opening minutes and there’s even a lengthy shot of a map of Cuba at the start. On the other hand, he does insist on switching the action between Guevara’s 1950s guerrilla warfare exploits - in colour and generally enjoyable -  and some duller black and white sequences centred around Che’s post revolution visit to address the UN in New York in 1964.

As the man himself, Del Toro (speaking Spanish) gives one of his best performances, slightly undermined by some of his words being relayed into English in an uninspiring voiceover in the New York sequences. Initially clean shaven, Del Toro’s guerrilla grows progressively hairier and more like his poster as the revolution comes closer, ultimately winning power through a combination of clever political negotiation and by derailing a few trains.

That said, the film fails in an important respect, in that we never get much of a sense of Che as a man. As there’s nothing here about Che’s childhood or personal life (a wife and children are only fleetingly mentioned), it’s hard to get much of a sense of what makes him tick. The Spanish language featurette and interview with Soderbergh do not offer much help. After all, Che may well have been 100% committed to the cause, but surely he had the occasional grumpy day and a laugh every so often too? Aside from confirming that Che liked a smoke and had more than his fair share of bad hair days, we get little sense of who the man behind the myth really was.

Overall Verdict: Well acted and made but you might come away feeling you know little more about Che Guevara at the end.

Special Features:
‘Che El Argentino’ Featurette
Stephen Soderbergh Interview
Trailer

Reviewer's Name: Chris Hallam