'Che' review

Benicio Del Toro (Credit: Teresa Isasi/IFC)

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“Che” is actually two movies that tell one cohesive story. For some select engagements it will play in its entirety with a brief intermission, but for most of its run it will be separated into two halves. The first, “The Argentine,” follows Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s (Benicio del Toro) rise from doctor to rebel hero in the successful Cuban Revolution, while the second, “Guerilla,” tracks his later attempt to continue the cause in a not-so-successful charge in Bolivia.

The buzz: When director Steven Soderbergh’s wildly ambitious epic premiered at Cannes there was immediate chatter that it would never reach theatrical audiences in its full length format. The staggered release pattern appears to be a compromise to allow audiences to experience the film as they prefer (it will even be available through video on demand from select cable operators in January). No matter how it’s available to see, the reunion of “Traffic” Oscar winners del Toro and Soderbergh is an exciting prospect, and del Toro has already won a best actor prize at Cannes for his efforts here.

The verdict: Although experiencing the full-length version of “Che” preserves Soderbergh’s strikingly beautiful artistic vision, enduring over four hours of Guevara wandering in the jungle—with minimal dialogue and even less in the way of personal information, subplots or engaging supporting characters—will leave audiences more fatigued than enlightened. It’s best to divide and conquer the two sections. “The Argentine” cuts back and forth between Guevara’s rise and his political life years, providing enough narrative momentum to qualify as engaging (though impatient moviegoers should still beware). That’ll sucker you into slogging through the more repetitive and tiresome “Guerilla”—if only for completeness. When it’s all over audiences are likely to have a clear understanding of Guevara’s commitment to his cause, but there’s an awful lot about the man (and his allegedly ultra-violent tactics) that remains unanswered. Shouldn’t four hours and two films deliver more than that?

Did you know? Del Toro, who also serves as a producer with Laura Bickford, originally hoped Terrence Malick would write and possibly direct the project. But when Malick chose to focus on “The New World,” Soderbergh stepped in to get the project going.

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