Che

Director Steven Soderbergh, who also photographed and edited this endurance contest of a film, betrays his admiration for Ernesto “Che” Guevara by minimizing or even ignoring the less savory aspects of the Argentinean Marxist's character. We learn little about Che's background (effectively dramatized some years ago in The Motorcycle Diaries) other than that he was a doctor who rejected his own class to defend poor peasants and fight oppression by the wealthy and powerful. Without dwelling on a guiding philosophy, the two-part epic immediately establishes Che (Benicio Del Toro) as working alongside Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) to overthrow Cuba's Batista regime in late 1958, with their guerilla campaign culminating in a dizzying, ultimately successful coup. But Soderbergh leapfrogs history, ignoring the revolution's bloody aftermath—and his subject's culpability in the torture and execution of Batista loyalists—to rejoin Che in 1966 Bolivia, where he leads another revolutionary movement but fails miserably, getting himself captured and killed. Del Toro plays Che with brooding self-importance but fails to make him a compelling figure: we know that he is important because other characters keep saying so; but his background is glossed over, and even the relationships he establishes during the time period covered—such as his marriage to Aleida March (played by Catalina Sandino Moreno)—are spottily developed. Although it's still considered chic to admire Che, not all critics were impressed with Soderbergh's effort. One wrote snarkily, “This isn't a movie so much as a siege.” Many viewers will agree. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary with author Jon Lee Anderson (Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life), a “making-of” documentary (50 min.), interviews with a number of participants and historians of the Cuban Revolution and Che's Bolivian campaign (35 min.), “Che and the Digital Cinema Revolution!” on the use of RED cameras (33 min.), an “End of a Revolution” short documentary made in Bolivia in 1967 after Guevara's execution (26 min.), deleted scenes (22 min.), a booklet featuring an essay by critic Amy Taubin, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an uneven biopic.] (E. Hulse)