Che: Part One (2008)

This first stage of Steven Soderbergh's biopic of the life of the Argentinian revolutionary Ernest Guevara begins with his arrival on the island of Cuba and follows his increasingly effective leadership of the revolution against the government of President Batista. That old adage about one man's terrorist being another's freedom fighter is well exemplified here with us left in no doubt by the director and writer of the merits of the Guevara cause. That writing isn't actually up to very much, nor is much of the acting but the documentary style of story-building and photography does work really well illustrating the extent of the poverty in which the subsistence population survived, hand to mouth and day to day. Benicio Del Toro takes the title role and when he reunites with Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) and brother Raúl (Rodrigo Santoro) he is soon an integral part of the command and control structure of the communist insurgency that intends to remove the pro-US government. It's Castro's increasing alignment with the Soviet Union that earns the the chagrin of their nearest neighbours and much of the drama here sees all of them crawling through the jungle wary of all they meet while their increasing number of troops and weaponry, coupled with increasing dis-satisfaction amongst the government troops, gives them a chance of success. It's history, and the fact that there's a part two doesn't leave a lot of room for jeopardy, but Soderbergh doesn't shy away from the uncertainty and brutality of the conflict and the hostility of their island environment. The location photography does work well but it sacrifices the sound mix to achieve that - there is a lot of mumbling going on here. This characterisation presents us with a man of some vision who believed in the principles of communal ownership and universal education, and is worth a watch.