TIFF08 REVIEW: Che: Part Two – Guerrilla [2008]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 135 minutes
Release Date: December 12th, 2008 (USA) / February 27th, 2009 (Spain)
Studio: Morena Films / IFC Films
Director(s): Steven Soderbergh
Writer(s): Peter Buchman and Benjamin A. van der Veen / Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (Bolivian Diary)

Maybe our failure will wake them up.

After my mild disappointment in Che: Part One – The Argentine, I began to anticipate better from Che: Part Two – Guerrilla. I probably should have taken the subtitle more literally than I did, though, assuming it would show us the political conversations and aftermath of the Cuban fight for freedom from Batista. The black and white flash forwards from The Argentine showing the UN speeches and fervor surrounding Che Guevara showed were therefore what I thought would comprise a big chunk of this epic’s conclusion.

Steven Soderbergh instead decides to show the actual guerrilla warfare used in Bolivia as Che fought to repeat his Cuban success. Unlike the structural shifts in the previous installment, this one is quite linear as the plot progresses from his secretive arrival to his eventual capture. Guevara believed everyone should want what he gave Cuba, not realizing his ideals wasn’t universally held. Those in the fight couldn’t have been happier with him as their leader, but the people on the sidelines who weren’t so easily recruited in Fidel’s war turned against him.

Everything that worked in the first film was thrown out here. As a result, the movie is actually pretty boring. We’re given a detailed look at the frontlines as insurgents wade through Bolivia to take out its government. But everything pretty much stays the same as they move from city to city doing their best to find victory beneath the death.

A crucial piece to the puzzle arrives via Lou Diamond Phillips’ Mario Monje, the leader of the revolutionary group who sought political compromise rather than violence and fear. But Guevara (played brilliantly by Benicio Del Toro once again) has already begun the fight and won’t back down due to his win or die mentality. He’s a stubborn man who believes he knows best and is most definitely set-up to be the hero and martyr many feel he is throughout the film. Guerrilla quickly proves a vanity piece about his final year as a result.

We must ask again: is this man worthy of such high praise? Many people call him a murderer and evil, but you would never think it watching Soderbergh’s films. Here he’s a man afflicted with constant asthma attacks after leaving his medication behind who stays at the front of the charge. He helps those in need with his medical expertise and leads a ragtag bunch of revolutionaries towards victory. Che is a God amongst men who’s so charismatic that he mystifies even the guards holding him captive with his celebrity. This hold is so powerful he can turn any boy into a fearless warrior that will follow him to his own destruction.

A straightforward war epic depicting fight after fight with their slow advancements and retreats, we’re thrust into the jungle for most of the film. There’s no breathing room jumping back to civilization like in The Argentine. We do, however, get some stunning shots due to the exotic locale. There’s a scene with a group of soldiers attempting to find their way back to Che by crossing a river. The scene foreshadows a likely ambush, ratcheting up suspense with minimal music and a stunning overhead view. Another shows Che peering through trees at an advancing Bolivian army. Framed in blurry leaves, the army is shown via crisp silhouettes in the distance. The composition and movement is superb.

Along with this artistry comes moments of contrivance. Soderbergh uses one family on a farm often as though they’re the only one in all of Bolivia. Che treats them well, offering extra money to buy livestock while the Bolivian army takes over their land for shelter. Another group containing a Spanish speaking Franka Potente (how many languages does she speak?) seeks advice from them about where to cross the river and Bolivians force them to give any information they can on any insurgent whereabouts. This family is as crucial to the war as Che if the script is to be believed.

The final twenty minutes or so dealing with Guevara’s capture do redeem things from the monotony. It’s his final stand against the Bolivians wherein he strives to be the model example of a martyr who knows his death might just be what the Bolivian people need to band together. Del Toro knocks it out of the park, transforming from his balding gray-haired disguise for clearing customs to the Che on all those t-shirts and posters. A gorgeous point of view shot at the end adds one more artistic flourish to make up for the mostly static camerawork prior.

If there was more explanation, I might have become better invested. Instead we are quite literally dropped into Bolivia and made to follow these soldiers as they do what they do without concrete rhyme or reason. Its different style from The Argentine makes it feel like they should be watched them separately, but you’d be absolutely lost during Guerrilla if you came in cold.

Soderbergh has definitely created something original and intriguing, but it just doesn’t quite work. Pretty to watch and glacially paced, this installment could have been a ten-minute epilogue to the first rather than an entire war with little purpose beyond his capture. The war was a Vietnam-scale debacle and an interesting Icarus fall from Che’s previous victory that I feel Soderbergh thought was more. Bloated and unnecessary, I’d be interested to see what might result from both films being cut together and an hour shorter. Then maybe we’d get a tightly constructed biography that isn’t too unwieldy to stay engrossed.