Wordiezett
So much average
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
braddugg
A terrific film that raises the spirit of a revolutionary to the hilt.This movie is a 2 part biopic that runs nearly four and a half hours. When I saw it for the first time at home on in 2009, I just took a ten-minute break after the completion of the first part and was dying to start the second part. After finishing the movie viewing, I was overwhelmed. I was very happy; there is an inspiration that I must make my life worth before I die. There is an incentive to value life.Ernesto Che Guevara is one of the most inspirational revolutionaries of the centuries the world over. The way he organized and won guerrilla wars was something that was a shock to many regimes in the American continents. The depiction of Che by Benicio Del Toro is something that took me by a surprise. Benicio Del Toro was intrepid in playing Che. Never did I feel, I was seeing an actor, all through it was just Che.The makeup was superlative. For the first ten minutes of the second part of the film, I was stunned. I could not recognize who is playing the character. So right is the disguise and so great is the acting. Cinematography and art direction in this could be used as references for generations to come. The film took me into 1950's and 1960's and made live in those times.From the word go to the last frame, there is perfection in craft technically. The spirit of revolution is in place. Cuba, Fidel Castro, Revolution, Bolivia, UN conference, Che, wow so many overwhelming elements.Kudos to Steven Soderbergh and perhaps this is his finest effort. Also to Benicio Del Toro. Benicio, you will live on as Che forever.A 5/5 for my favorite revolutionary films. One of the all-time great films this.
frusciante370
This movie is a one sided whitewash that portrays Che Guevara as some Christ like figure. Its a terrible insult to anyone who lost friends or relatives in Castro's concentration camps at the hands of Guevara. The reviewer who gave it 5 stars should go read a history book.Here are some actual quotes from the beneficent Che that didn't make the movie:"What we affirm is that we must proceed along the path of liberation even if this costs millions of atomic victims." (Referring to Soviet atomic missiles pointed at the US.)"We must eliminate all newspapers; we cannot make a revolution with free press.""Hatred as an element of the struggle; a relentless hatred of the enemy, impelling us over and beyond the natural limitations that man is heir to and transforming him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold killing machine. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy."Clearly Che would've made a fine Nazi. What's next Soderbergh? a biopic about the happy art lover Hermann Goering?It's disgraceful not to mention dangerous when violent murderous people are celebrated.
Leofwine_draca
CHE: PART ONE is an enjoyable history lesson detailing the rise and rise of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara, following his early years as he hooks up with brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and sets about engaging in a guerrilla warfare in Cuba. The direction by Steven Soderbergh is understated, the director preferring to have this feel almost like a documentary, following the rebels on their path to success.The raw, cinema verite style is this story's strongest asset, that and the fact that Benedicio del Toro feels like he was born to play the role. Despite the lengthy running time, the story holds the attention, and the frequent battle scenes are very well handled and believable. The only part I didn't like was the constant cutting away to dull, black and white scenes of exposition with Guevara being interviewed in later years; they should have let the straightforward storytelling speak for itself.
Boba_Fett1138
This troubled production really isn't a bad one to watch but it's a bit of a distant and hard one to watch, due to its overall approach of its story and subject.This must have been a bit of a dream-project for director Steven Soderbergh a the time, fore he really pushed for shooting and finishing this movie, without the backing of any big studios or rich producers. At the time the movie(s) was finished, nobody was interested in distributing it, despite having Soderbergh's and Benicio Del Toro's names attached to it. It therefore also never really got a decent wide release at the theaters and financially turned into a big disappointment, even after cutting the movie into two different separate ones and releasing them shortly after each other. The buzz for this movie however always had been quite good, though lots of people had also already pointed out from the beginning how heavily flawed the movie is. And yes, while this is definitely being a well made movie, it's definitely not a movie that is without its flows.It's being a very fragmentary film, with some very fragmentary storytelling. This means that literally in the one scene we have a couple of guys talking in the jungle, the next scene a different group is in a fire fight and the next scene everybody is sitting around at a camp. So the scene's don't necessarily directly connect with each other. The entire movie is basically being like this and it even switches back and forth in time as well, with the story of Che fighting at Cuba and the story of Che talking at the UN convention in New York, many years later. This style of film-making really isn't that uncommon of course but I'm not always a big fan of it. This movie definitely didn't benefited much from it. Watching this actually made me wish Oliver Stone would had directed this. His style of film-making seemed far more suiting for the story and its main subject.I can't really say that this is being a biopic of Che Guevara. The movie really doesn't give any insights concerning its main character and it certainly doesn't give him any background or clear motivations why he's so much involved with the Cuban revolution. The movie basically more or less assumes that the viewers already knows lots of things about the character and the Cuban revolution in general. In doesn't really ever go in depth with any of its things, which makes this a bit of a distant and less involving movie to watch.This are basically the downsides of the movie, while the movie of course also has plenty of positive things to say about it in it. Fact remains that this is a well made movie, that is good looking, despite of its restrained budget.I was also pleasantly surprised by Benicio Del Toro. Yes, I already knew he was a great actor but I never thought he would be capable of portraying a real life person, because he has such an unique and distinctive look of his own. But in this movie he simply turns easily into Che Guevara, without making it ever distracting.Despite its flaws this movie is still good enough to keep me interested- and wanting me to see part two.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
