Che: Part One

Earnest (pun intended) presentation of the lead-up to victory in Havana that at least attempts to give a sense of the political discussions and strategies that animated the movement. This episode is very well photographed and looks beautiful. The somewhat detached feel is clearly the result of a directorial decision grounded in the politics of the subject, and is entirely defensible: the alternatives were basically hagiography or judgment, both of which would have been inferior choices.

With all the praise del Toro deserves, the guy who played Castro in what was essentially a bit part should get a shout out - he got his mannerisms down pat. The film feels episodic but the only real weakness is when it gets bogged down in the Santa Clara battle scenes, it seemed somewhat without context and had too much time devoted to it. Treads a fine line with the potential for both slavering hero-worship and iconoclastic revisionism but generally succeeds without pandering to the audience.

Soderbergh chose to make a film that distances itself from its subject - from Che as a person, and Che as an idea. The form of the film is almost like an journalistic report. But in fact the film distances itself from both sides so much, that it barely tells anything, and makes everything Che did insignificant. Shot digitally in extremely wide format it almost makes Che disappear in the jungle. And for the character, especially as iconic as Che, it isn't acceptable.

The Argentine is the better half of a great whole. Che as a character is better personified in this portion, as it fleshes out his ideals, rhetoric, and impact much more than the second half. Soderbergh throws out his directorial style for a much more subtle and interesting approach as he commands Del Toro through the performance of both their careers. Narrative structure in The Argentine is approached freely and in most ways it succeeds for this very reason.

I found it quite beautiful and, well, nicely ... proportioned. Like, the tempo in what ends as a purely cronological story, was quite calming. Yes, passages are boring, and at times it lacks nerve, but it is a great portrait, made in an unpretentious style which suits it. Much too hated, for sure, in comparison to most american blockbuster biographies.

Che has very interesting moments. In fact, in sections the film is superb and Del Toro's performance as Che Guevara is excellent. However the film never seems to come together, instead it seems to just wander with general intent than definite intention. Even so it's still very well made making it worth a watch.

I really like the atmosphere of this movie. Instead of opting to go with the more uplifting and/or hollywood feel of a Cuba's revolution, this movie is directed to make you feel like you're watching someone simply holding a camera and witnessing the events that are unfolding, which gives the action much more tension as a result. However, the movie is too disjointed and incoherent for it to be as thoroughly enjoyable as it should be. Still worth a watch given the direction, though.

The problem with this film is that it lacks anything that would connect it's fragments so its basicaly a mosaic of separated scenes. However, the second hour gets a bit better and feels more coherent.

"The Argentine", though easily better than it's second half "Guerilla", never really hits the mark. It choses to tell you that Che was a great man who did some not so great things for his country, and that's that. Never do they delve into the moral quandries of how he acheives his goals. Never do they look into the psychologial mindset of Che, or the people who looked to him as a leader or a renegade. "The Argentine" could have been so much more, rather than just a few stale action scenes.

I've only so far seen this first part, and I must say what it left me with is a deep desire to see the second. Del Toro is a perfect fit, and this biopic is very engaging and serious while also managing to be funny surprisingly often. It's by no means extremely brilliant, but Soderbergh has made a good effort on this pretty daring project.

Do unto others...

As a teen, I bought a Che shirt at an army supply store. The cashier asked me if I knew who Che was, and when I said yes, he let me buy the shirt.

An impressive portrayal of a revolution and a revolutionary.

The way this movie starts with the geography lesson, is exactly how the rest of it feels. Too slow, and too disjointed. You're warned.

Benicio del Toro is the quintessential Saw Gerrera...er...Che Guevara in this movie about the rise of a diary-writing motorcycle rider cum motivational poster quote coiner. Sure, there's lots of fighting in the jungle, recruiting of rogues, asthmatic breathing, and phone calls with Castro, but there's also fighting in towns, reprimanding of rogues gone rogue, asthmatic breathing, and sit-downs with Castro. Spoiler: There's a part 2.

I've yet to watch part two, so this is entirely with respect to part one. Overall this is impressive film making. Many fantastic performances from a great cast and frequently beautiful cinematography presenting Cuba at it's best. I did find it to be quite slow paced, which I guess is to be expected when a film is nearly 5 hrs and split into two parts. Despite being half the story, part one completes a notable arc in Che's life story, and I'm keen to see how Part two continues.

Soderbergh's usual mix of seemingly effortless technique and apparent near total indifference to his material serves him reasonably well here, relieving the film of most potential war film cliches (although it's far from the detached austerity of say, Miklos Jancso, it's equally hard to mistake this for Ridley Scott brouhaha). If anything, it's actually rather refreshing to see something so completely nonjudgmental about a subject with such historical baggage.

Soderbergh is notorious to a fault for being a procedural filmmaker, yet in times of revolution, when emotions run high and fighting is seen as courageous, this detached quality, void of sentimentality, filmed as if in the present tense, makes "The Argentine" an incredibly absorbing war movie. Note: Reminiscent of Malick in that much of the cinematography is focused on people, particularly soldiers, navigating through beautiful geography. The urban combat towards the end is intense.

Alternatively beautiful and dull, with certain scenes that reveal much too little, and others that come off heavy handed, Che is such a strange viewing experience that's its safe to say I've never seen anything like it. In my opinion, that's a good thing. Del Toro gives an very understated performances, which is at times, also to the film's determent. All that being said, I can't stress how unique Soderberghs vision is here. It doesn't all work, but I'm glad it exists.

73.000

Looks fantastic and I think Benicio Del Toro is great in it. However, I couldn't really connect to it emotionally, so it was definitely a tiring watch.

A strong strong film which tells the story of Che Guevara's rise in not only the Cuban Revolution but also his personal growth as a person. Del Toro puts in a brilliant central performance, capturing Guevara at various points in his life - the way the film jumps around constantly also provides the film a better way of providing context and keeps it interesting with a variety of visually interesting styles. Really enjoyed the score as well, and the action sequences were a little different!

Soderbergh's rendition of Che's story is interesting because of the director's style. It translates substantially well in the characterization of the characters and environments, but it lacks the love and emotion the script keeps mentioning. There are moments where Che is captivating; there are also moments where you will ask why it's 2 hours long. Del Toro is absolutely perfect as Che, a joy to watch. Above all, this is a flawless representation of the Cuban Revolution and its participants.

The entire movie is about all the behind the scenes aspects of war without seeing any real battle except for the climax. While this got very boring at times, it's important to understand who Che was and see him as a tactician and politician, not only as a fighter. Amazing job from Del Toro, but almost every other character (of which, there were too many) is completely flat.

I guess the filmmakers were trying to avoid taking political sides, but the result is that it ends up feeling detached and clinical, and frankly a bit boring.

Amazing cinematography and lead performance. A little too hard to follow, as Soderbergh's usual respect for the audience forces you to work too hard to keep up. Perhaps if I knew more about the specifics of the revolution, it would be easier. Still an above average first half of a biopic, simply because the man helming it is an above average filmmaker.

A film that spends far too long saying not very much about nothing in particular. Gives practically no insight into Guevara, Castro, or anything else for that matter. I'm convinced that there could have been a much more interesting story here, but instead you've got Del Toro pouting in the jungle for scene upon scene until suddenly hurrah for Cuba. Hoping part 2 is more interesting frankly. Says everything that Soderbergh didn't give a flying fuck about any of it until he was offered the job.

Whilst Soderbergh in directing Che strove for a an air of neutrality in presenting the events that transpired during the overthrow of the Bautista's regime, the trajectory of the film focused myopically on the piece-by-piece account of the galvanized evolution of the armed revolution. Although, Che plays the idyllic fixation of the film, the Cuban Revolution encompasses greater underpinnings that go beyond Che's role as Comandante. The superimposition of quotes and reenactments was acceptable.

Somewhat underwhelming. I didn't know much about Che Guevara before watching this film (other than the basics) and two hours later I feel I still don't know much about Che Guevara. It focuses too much on delivering a blow-by-blow account of the revolution and largely neglects psyche of its central character. I understand Soderbergh's desire for neutrality, but it feels dry as a result. However, it's nicely shot, and the climactic battle in Santa Clara is pretty exciting.

Magnificent cinematic representation of a highly controversial figure in political history. The first part deals more with the personal values and morals of Guevara as a fighter and a politican. Both parallels are very well illustrated on screen. The Guerilla deals more with the humanist side of Guevara and the wider struggle for freedom, the heroic sacrifices made for it, and the high price paid to achieve it Benicio Del Toro does not depict Guevara; he personifies him. He IS Guevara.

"Too emotionally dry to embrace but too ingenious to dismiss, Che is a fascinating, problematic film." - Fernando F. Croce

Excellent.

An inspiring story, in some ways. Cinematography/directing could be better.

68.000

Out-perversing Gus Van Sant's Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence.

Del Toro is great as Che, though I don't know much about the real revolutionist. Soderbergh did his best trying to make a non-Hollywood movie. His overuse of flesh backs and flash forwards was a real a bittersweet for the first half of the film. The second part was more structural and digestible to open Che as historical character.

The way this film is presented demands some knowledge of the historical context. Gradually, over the 2 hours Del Toro builds a picture of Che as a leader but the narrative doesn't leave you with a sense of what he was fighting against. I couldn't connect with the character.

Quite an epic seeing it is split in two parts, totaling 269 minutes of footage. For me the downfall came with the screenplay where action was intermittently replaced with quotes from Che almost like clockwork. Finding a balance between the ideologies of Che the man and his actions in bringing them to surface is a hard achievement. Perhaps they had the right idea in shooting 2 separate films but missed the chance for ultimate execution. If this is true, Che's biopic is ironically accurate.

Beautiful.

not much telling about che. it's an average movie except for the documentary-style shots.

Soderbergh didn't seem to know what direction to take this. An interesting feature that is lacking in some areas but Che is a Gonzo like figure where making a bad movie about him is difficult. Del Toro is great and I'll now seek out part two.

clocking in at over two hours (the second does as well) it manages to keep the entire duration packed with little boring time. the problem with this movie is that it doesn't have a very cohesive script and tends to jump around way too much, not enough action. though it was plenty interesting.

It's a little bit slow but has good spirit

Del Toro = Che

It has that genuine, realistic feel to it, but lacks that emotional punch you'd hope to see in a film of this caliber.

I'm not a big war or political movie fan, but this piece was really boring. Del Toro was good though.

so realistic, so honest, so vivid. thats the Che part one.

A cine biography, simple and honest, that does not make usual mistakes in this type of production, trying to be the most accurate and faithful possible with the history, leaving the viewer to make their own trial. Benicio del Toro is a great actor and goes well here, without exaggeration, Che.

If you are fan of those "extreme action" and "fast cuts" holywood movies, probably, you will find this movie boring (just like other reviewers). But this is more a documentary, a CV of Ernesto Guevara than some epic story. And I liked it very much. Because you can feel the "spirit of the revolution" in this movie.

Interesting how a film about such an interesting character is so uninteresting.

Technically very well made and Benicio nails the lead role but the screenplay is pretty bad in many ways.

I hate Commies