Che, Part One, 2008 by Steven Soderbergh

Che, part one as ending captions implies, directed by Steven Soderbergh, jointly produced and played by Benicio del Toro as the leading role tries to be a memoir of Ernesto Guevara “Che”, the world-renowned and legendary guerrilla leader and revolutionary of Latin America.
Waiting long to watch it, I was not impressed by the picture as I was when I read the biography of Che some time ago and as he deserved, in my opinion. Obviously, no matter how good in quality, the subject and the story are attractive enough to make the film important. So I started for the film with high expectations.
Despite the physical similarity of del Toro’s face to Che Guevara, he can hardly represent his vision, morale and charisma as someone like me who has heard his name for the first time decades after his death, could see in his eyes. Benicio del Toro looks too fat and his motions not agile enough for someone in his late 20s or early 30s.
The opening season, on the night when Che and Castro discuss their views and plans, it simply lacks an explanation of why an Argentinean doctor should join a foreign revolutionary movement. It lacks a description of the basics to his vision and motives especially when he asks Fidel to pass his revolution, after the victory, to the whole Latin America.
In the first half of the film, Che looks more as a sick soldier who hardly handles his own problems, than a pillar to the whole revolution, which he absolutely is widely believed to be. It’s said in his bio that after joining to the revolutionary movement he attended military trainings and he was called “the best of them all” at the end of the training by their instructor.
The director puts too much emphasis on Che’s asthma and smoking Cuban cigars. He is either igniting a new cigar or smoking passionately in every scene. Soderbergh seems to have tried hard on shooting the guerrilla life and fighting scenes as realistically as possible. I believe he is pretty successful in this regard, making good resemblance to documentaries.
Those episodes showing Che Guevara travelling to the US to represent Cuba at the UN general assembly are quite precise such that they could hardly be discerned from original news footages. Shooting in black and white is quite helpful. But this is only in terms of appearance than the content.
Unfortunately, it’s been attempted to deliver Che Guevara’s vision more in verbal terms than imagery; Fidel Castro, Raul and Camilo complement him, emphasizing on his importance to the revolution; expression of slogan-like words in delivering speeches at the UN general assembly. I think the picture does not depict the message Che brought to the world as it was.
Contrary to some news, that Soderbergh has not depicted the executions, there is a complete portrayal of a justified (by revolutionary rules) execution of a deserter who has committed crimes in the name of revolution.
As I understand, Che was that prominent in his vision and believes that after meeting with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre described him as "not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age”. Also I learn that he was even superior to Fidel Castro in terms of theory, vision and ideas while Castro had more capabilities in leadership and management. So a combination of both, led to the victory of the Cuban revolutionary forces over the Batista regime. The film, simply doesn’t give such a meaning.
Soderbergh and del Toro’s Che is not what I expected for.