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Movies & TV

Che, Part Two: Guerrilla

CHE, PART TWO: GUERRILLA (E1, 2008) D/ Steven Soderbergh, w/ Benicio Del Toro, Carlos Bardem. Rating: NNN DVD package: n/a Rating: NNN


There’s a sense of doom about Che, Part Two that makes it a better movie than the first part. Not good, you understand, just better.

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Even if we don’t know the history, we figure out fast that Che Guevara and the little band of Cuban revolutionaries he’s brought to Bolivia are doomed.

In the key moment, Che sits down with the Communist party leader, who claims the moment isn’t right for revolution.

Che argues the opposite, but his reasons are dreadful: everything about the suffering miners, nothing about the conditions necessary for success. It’s the best character moment in either movie.

Things get worse. The Bolivian peasants don’t want to fight, and distrust the foreigners. Compare that to Part One’s ready-for-war Cubans.

Steven Soderbergh directs with the same low-key naturalism he brought to Part One, and lets his actors’ downcast faces and the harsh landscape tell the story. Benicio Del Toro is convincingly unhappy as Che.

The movie drags on far too long, but you can pass the time contrasting Parts One and Two for some insight into the nature of revolutions. There are no extras to help you along.

EXTRAS Widescreen. Spanish, French audio. English, French subtitles.

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