MUBI

Steven Soderbergh’s Che: Part One is a movie I praised for its Rosselini-style approach to history, taking a controversial figure and presenting him in a seemingly fair and balanced way. Che: Part Two is evidence that while Soderbergh’s Che as a whole is an ambitious and lavish spectacle, it also happens to be a work that is inherently dishonest in nature due to the pretensions of its approach.

Che: Part Two depicts Guevara’s failed campaign to overthrow the Bolivian government, in hopes of installing a Castro-friendly regime. Soderbergh wisely avoids overt audience manipulation, a choice that would elude an inferior filmmaker like Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles. Taking a page from the Roberto Rosselini school of historical drama, Soderbergh made his CHE films absent of overtly manipulative dramatic technique. Nowhere in these films will you find sweeping musical cues, soliloquies from dying key players, or a traditional three act structure. Instead Soderbergh presents the characters in a matter-of-fact fashion that, if shot without an eye for composition, could pass for historical mumblecore.

On the surface, this approach seems fair, as it doesn’t build up its protagonist in an insulting way, however what Soderbergh depicts in front of the camera exposes his dishonesty as a storyteller, as the film presents Che Guevara in a way that damn near approaches Sainthood. As stated earlier, this depiction is not overt, Soderbergh and his star are much more subtle than the usual Hollywood hacks. Guevara is often depicted reading books whilst deep in thought, or helping cure peasants of disease, essentially the insipid depiction Guevara drew of himself in his own writings on his own exploits, many of which have been hilariously taken to task by his so-called revolutionary companions. It’s hilarious in the film when enemy soldiers are captured, Che treats them like his new best friends, it’s rare we see him behave in the contemptible manner that even the most honorable warriors must behave during battle. Che is a film that purports to be objective, when really it follows this historical master narrative set by Jon Lee Anderson, when any historian adventurous enough to have searched outside of Anderson’s book can tell you Che was essentially a murderous-yet-incompetent guerrilla who got lucky with his company in Cuba before failing hilariously and spectacularly around the world afterward after inflating his own ego in the public eye, eventually getting himself killed in Bolivia at the hands of a population that saw through his brand of bullshit.

Che: Part Two isn’t a film that’s brave enough to challenge Anderson’s narrative of history, it’s a movie that reads his nonsense as fact without bothering to challenge it, making Soderbergh’s overall effort a cinematic spectacle that should never be taken seriously beyond art-house entertainment a la Oliver Stone’s JFK.

This is dizzying cinema and such a remarkable achievement. Once again, as in Part I, the film opens with an animated map – this time starting with Bolivia and then highlighting each country on the South American continent. A brilliant way to set the stage. A cleansing breath. This is it. This is the setting. Breathe. Begin. And then it’s over two hours of verite cinema following Guevara from the beginning of his guerrilla movement in Bolivia to the end. The music is delicately, carefully utilized. The camera, always handheld, objective, always objective, and then it blatantly changes at the climactic end.

I am in awe. It also doesn’t hurt that I have a deep and lasting interest in Latin America. I have lived, worked, and traveled throughout most of the continent. I teach Latin American Cinema. I have spent time in Bolivia. There is a scene in the beginning where Che enters the city of La Paz and is quietly struck by its daunting vista. You see it in his eyes. The overwhelming city is deeply set in a valley like a giant crevasse or crater. I remember feeling equally affected when entering the city.

This film quiety watches, explores, shows. As the map reveals, Bolivia (and all of Latin America) and its citizens are the main characters in the film. They are the story, the reason for this story, and their existence and plight incites Guevara and sets the stage. The camera follows and watches Guevara, its sympathy, however, lies with the people and place.

I did not find Che II quite as gripping as Che I although I still reckon it is a good film. The problem may have been that the first part of Che’s life had plenty of growth and direction and, hence, so did Che I. The second part of his life was sloppier — fighting in the back end of nowhere with people who were not that interested. So Che II was sloppier. Still highly recommend both films (along with the related Motorcycle Diaries). Che was probably not the towering figure that modern media made him, but his life was important for that period of history. These films do him justice.

Watching Che in two parts, I felt I bore witness to Che the social activist and Che the guerilla. The Argentine (Part One) is about events. Guerilla (Part Two) is about the experience. They are two different movies about the same man, and as a result, it feels fuller compared to many other biopics. More than a face for revolution, I got a real sense of Che as human being. The ways in which he went about attaining revolution may be written off in some circles but it’s not as easy to write off the intents of his heart. This was clearly a man who fought because he genuinely loved the people he was fighting for.

After the mild disappointment from Che Part 1: The Argentine, I began to anticipate something better with Che Part 2: Guerrilla. I probably should have taken the subtitle more literally than I did as I thought maybe this would show us the political conversations and aftermath of the Cuban fight for freedom from Batista. The black and white flash forwards of The Argentine showing the UN speeches and fervor surrounding Che Guevara showed what I hoped would comprise a big chunk of the conclusion to the story. However, Steven Soderbergh instead decided to show the actual guerrilla warfare used in Bolivia as Che fought to repeat his Cuban success. Unlike the structural shifts in the previous installment, this one is quite linear as the plot progresses from his arrival, incognito, to his eventual capture at the hands of the Bolivians. Guevara believed everyone should want what he had given Cuba, not realizing his ideals and courage to fight for freedom wasn’t universally held. Those in the fight could not have been happier with him as their leader, it was the people on the sidelines, those that were so easily recruited in Fidel’s war, which turned against him.

Everything that did work in the first film was thrown out for this one. As a result, the movie is actually pretty boring. We are given a detailed look into the frontlines as the insurgents wade through Bolivia trying to take out the government. Battle after battle, everything stays very much the same as they go city to city, doing their best to find victory hidden beneath the death. A crucial piece to the puzzle comes from Lou Diamond Phillips’ small cameo as Mario Monje, the leader of the revolutionary group who was more for political talks and compromise rather than violence and fear. Guevara, played brilliantly once again by Benicio Del Toro, has already started the fight and due to his win or die mentality, will not back down. He is a stubborn man believing unquestionably in himself, knowing that what he is doing is the only way. Che is most definitely setup to be the hero and martyr many feel he is throughout this film. Glorified as a leader of men and a man of superior knowledge on mankind, Guerrilla is not much more than a vanity piece, showing what happened to him in his final year, never backing down and never giving up.

Again, though, is this man worthy of such praise? People around the world hail him to be a murderer and evil, but you would never think it to see Soderbergh’s epic tale. The man is afflicted with constant asthma attacks having left his medication behind, stays at the front of the charge, helps those in need with his medical expertise, and leads a ragtag bunch of revolutionaries towards victory. Che is a God amongst men here, even when captured he holds such a charismatic mystique, brainwashing the guards with his celebrity to the point they want to talk to him even if they are employed to keep him captive. No one is beyond his hold, something so innocently powerful he can turn even the youngest boy into a fearless warrior, one that will follow him to his own destruction.

While it all is a straightforward war epic, fight after fight, slowly advancing and retreating depending on the outcome, we are thrust into the jungle for almost the entire film. There is no breathing room jumping back to civilization as in The Argentine, instead we stay entrenched in the battle. Because of this exotic locale, we get some stunning shots. A scene containing a group of soldiers, attempting to find their way back to Che, crossing a river is breathtaking. Due to events we see, the audience knows an ambush is likely and the suspense is high while they cross, guns over heads, music at a minimum. The overhead view is stunning and just one example of visual flair thrown in the mix. Another is with Che peering through trees at an advancing Bolivian army. Framed in blurry leaves, the army is shown with crisp silhouettes in the distance, walking through and setting up position; the composition and movement is very well done.

Along with the artistry also comes moments of contrivance. I don’t know if Soderbergh didn’t want too many characters running around—there are a lot—but one family on a farm, father, mother, and six children, come into play often. It’s as though they are the only family in all of Bolivia. Che treats them well, offering extra money to buy livestock; the Bolivian army take over the land for shelter; the separated group, containing a Spanish speaking Franka Potente (how many languages does she speak?) look for advice on where to cross the river; and the Bolivians force them to give any information they can on the insurgents’ whereabouts. This family is as much a crucial part to the war as Che’s inclusion if the script is to be believed.

The final twenty or so minutes, dealing with Guevara captured, redeem a bit of the monotony that came before it. It is his final stand against the Bolivians, saving face and never showing fear, being the model example of a martyr, knowing his death might be just the thing to band the Bolivian people together. Del Toro knocks the part out of the park, transforming from the balding gray disguise needed to clear customs to eventually become the Che we know from the t-shirts and posters, long hair sticking out from underneath his hat. A gorgeous point of view shot at the end just adds one more instance of artistic touch, trying to make up for the more or less static camerawork shown the rest of the time.

If there was more explanation I might have become invested in the proceedings. Instead we are quite literally dropped into Bolivia and made to follow these soldiers as they do what they do, without rhyme or reason. Such a different style than The Argentine makes you feel like you could watch them separately, but with almost no character development, you’d be absolutely lost with Guerrilla coming in cold. Soderbergh definitely has created something intriguing and original, unfortunately it just doesn’t quite work. Pretty to watch, but slowly paced, this installment could have been a ten-minute epilogue to the first part, describing what happened to Guevara post-Cuba. Instead, we are subjected to an entire war with no purpose other than to show his capture. The war was a Vietnam scale debacle and an interesting fall of Icarus from the first’s victorious fight. I just feel Soderbergh thought it was more than what it actually is. A bit bloated and unnecessary, I’d be interested to see what might happen if both films were cut together, an hour excised. Then maybe we’d have a tightly constructed full biography; otherwise, the whole experience is just too much to stay engrossed with.