Che Part 1: El Argentino by Steven Soderbergh (2008)
30 December 2009I am a huge Benicio del Toro fan, and have been wanting to see this since it came out, but it does not even come out on DVD until next year, but with the new Criterion streaming deal with Netflix I was finally able to watch this first of 2 films in HD and was absolutely blown away. Not only is this well directed, with an engaging, and true story with a fantastic performance by Benicio del Toro, but this film looks amazing, and it was one of the first films shot on RED cameras, and this part was even shot anamorphic with RED, and looked fantastic! In fact for all the complaining I hear about RED, it is films like this and District 9 that really show me just how good it is, and make me wish the damn Scarlet would come out, so people in a smaller budget can get their hands on it! This is the up film of the pair, this covering the Cuban Revolution, and it really does recreate the mood of the time, and a look into this world, and what happened. This is an absolute must see, and I am sure Criterion will be do an exemplary blu-ray of this film, and I look forward to the special features.
The film is intercut between 1964 and starting in 1955 at a gathering in Mexico City where the Cuban Revolution really began, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Benicio del Toro) first met Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir). In 1964 we have Che being interviewed by Lisa Howard (Julia Ormond), which is intercut through the film, as well as Che’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly about the Imperialism of the United States in South and Central America. In 1955 Che, Castro and around 80 others head to Cuba via boat, and start the armed revolution in Cuba. It is not easy for Che, who has asthma. At first he is not trusted by many because he is an Argentine, and not Cuban, and even Castro ends up demoting from him division, and putting him in charge of the wounded, but it is there that he learns to truly be a soldier.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Che’s time moving the wounded, where he uses not only his skills as a solider, but his skills as a doctor. Also going to the people, and helping as many peasants as they can, and buying everything they use, and making the people like them. Punishing those troops who do not respect the peasants.
Eventually Che takes back over a military unit, and becomes one of the revolutions top soldiers, taking his troops into the Battle of Santa Clara, that breaks the back of the US backed Batista, and winning the revolution. On the way heading to Havana he says, we have won the war, but the revolution starts now.
The film ends back in the room in Mexico where Che first met Castro, and we see the two talking. Che admits Castro is a bit crazy, but then he says he will join him if Castro promises that the Revolution will not end there, but will go on and encompass all of South America.
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A really great film. I loved it, I really did. Especially the intercutting with the battle sequences with the scenes of Che after the war being interviewed and talking to the UN, which really give a great counterpoint. Really amazing. I highly recommend this film!
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