Che: Part Two

Only until May 30 available! More tragic and bitter than the first part, "Che - Guerrilla" takes Guevara, this international figurehead of the Cuban revolution, into the dense undergrowth of the Bolivian high mountains. Once again based on one of Guevara's diaries, the "Bolivian Diary", Steven Soderbergh unfolds a story of failure in the second part of his gripping biopic. With the support of foreign sympathizers such as the writer Regis Debray, Guevara takes up the fight against President Barrientos and his troops with a small armed unit. On the side, the asthmatic revolutionary and trained doctor Guevara heals the sick, helps the poor and yet receives hardly any support from the Bolivian rural population. Che could not count on the help of the Communist Party under Mario Monje either. As morale continues to decline, the guerrillas are ambushed. In the second part of "Che", Steven Soderbergh also makes an effort to de-ideologize the film, while he repeatedly uses a documentary touch in the camerawork and casts well-known actors in smaller roles: Franka, for example, can be seen in a small role as foreign sympathizer "Tania, la guerillera". Benicio Del Toro once again manages an impressively authentic portrayal of the ageing icon. Even if Soderbergh does not shed any light on the contradictions of Guevara's goal of extending the revolution to the world, this is still a gripping portrait of a myth. "Steven Soderbergh's Che diptych teaches the viewer to pay special attention to everyday gestures. He articulates himself in them at least as much as in the dialog, giving the characters their evidence. Benicio Del Toro's Che is hardly ever as present as in these personal encounters. He not only shows a patient kindness to like-minded people; even towards the enemy recruits who guard him in the hours before his execution, he behaves as an unwavering humanist. The existence of a counterpart is the most cogent reason for him never to give up hope for good. [...] Thus the second part of his diptych is also defined by its difference to the first (to which it is, however, closely linked in a thoroughly concealed symmetry). The scope of image and action in this film is more limited, the Cinemascope has given way to the widescreen format 1:1.85, the restrained sonority of Alberto Iglesias' score has given way to more intimate guitar sounds. The camera keeps a greater distance from the titular hero, often showing him from behind and rarely detaching him from his entourage. Benicio Del Toro breathes more heavily in the second part, but he has not become more tired. Che's troupe is isolated, the Bolivian Communist Party and even the farmers refuse to support him. "Guerilla" tells of how this time the magic no longer works." (Gerhard Midding on edp-film.de)