They don’t make ’em like this anymore. Unfortunately, I’m not referring to the must-see nature of “Che.” In fact, unless you have a special interest in the title subject, red revolutionary icon Ernesto Che Guevara, (adequately played by Benicio Del Toro), you won’t be missing much if you skip it.
No, I’m referring to its length. Clocking in at more than four hours total, the production is being presented in two separate parts, both opening simultaneously today at the same theaters. (So, you’ll need to pay double to view the whole thing.)
Maybe director Steven Soderbergh think that buttocks nowadays don’t have the staying power they had when, say, Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean worked. But at least those famous makers of epic spectacles from Hollywood’s Golden Age offered the sweeping vistas, historical (or literary) scope, and the casts of thousands to justify their movie marathons.
This “Che”? Not so much. “Gone with the Wind” it isn’t.
Instead, with screenwriter Peter Buchman shaping Part One from Guevara’s memoir “The Cuban Revolutionary War” and Part Two from the leader’s “The Bolivian Diary,” this is a “Che” that doesn’t live up to it’s name. A normal biopic would examine a person’s backstory and motivations in a more complete and orderly fashion. But “Che” doesn’t offer insight into the man’s formative years or his personal life, although it does show the unusual way he met wife Aleida (Catalina Sandino Moreno). It also lacks a good explanation of why this physician/intellectual ended up espousing, ironically, the tactic of violence and became such an inspiration for communists and insurgent idealists of other political persuasions ever since his mid-20th century heyday.
Soderbergh’s film project should have been called “Che’s Two Wars” instead.
“Part One” deals with his successful effort, under head honcho Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir), to overthrow Cuba. Enhancing the picayune details behind the training and battles of the guerilla campaign, scenes of a Guevara visit to the United Nations add some context. No such relief improves Part Three, which is a ridiculously exhaustive, but much less exciting, chronicle of his failed efforts to help replicate the Cuban revolution in Bolivia.
Throughout both parts, I couldn’t help but think of “Bananas,” Woody Allen’s hilarious 1971 spoof of Latin American radical chic. Rent that 82-minute corker instead and save yourself some time.
Quick Info
“Che, Part One” and “Che, Part Two”
Part One: 3 out of 5 Stars
Part Two: 2 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Not Rated.
Running Times: Part One: 129 minutes, Part Two: 128 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
