It's a curious and bewildering film. The first part, "The Argentine", describing the Cuban Revolution, is slow-moving, devoid of much tension, conventionally directed, and further weakened by unnecessary flash-forwards to Che's speech at the United Nations in 1964, where he failed to say anything even remotely memorable, only repeating the same old leftist talking points. (Not a mention, however, is made of Che's great speech in Algiers in 1965, where he condemned the Soviet Union and its policies - a speech that may well explain his death in Bolivia two years later). Also, the first part was shot in Puerto Rico instead of Cuba, making the climactic Battle of Santa Clara lack authenticity. As result, "Che: Part One" is simply a conventional piece of Communist propaganda, identical to countless Soviet films about revolutionary heroes and far less innovative than most Cuban films on the same subject. By contrast, the second part, "Guerrilla", describing Che's disastrous Bolivian campaign, is actually quite good - brilliantly directed, tense, often very exciting, beautifully shot, and most importantly, filmed in exactly the same places in Bolivia where Che used to operate. There is also another reason why both parts are so different - the Cuban episode was based on Che's official memoirs that he had plenty of time to re-edit after the Revolution, eliminating all the darker aspects of the struggle, and selectively showing only the most positive moments. By contrast, the Bolivian campaign was based on Che's unedited notes that were found when he was captured. And those notes honestly and vividly describe the life of a guerilla as it really was - ugly, unromantic and pathetic. And even more remarkable is the fact that this pro-Communist film was made by a capitalist American filmmaker during the presidency of George W. Bush, directly contradicting Che's misconceptions about the United States.
"Che: Part One - The Argentine" **
"Che: Part Two - Guerilla" ***
