Che: Part Two (2008)

I presume Che Guevara can be considered a controversial figure but I personally admire him; I can't deny this. This affection for him, anyway, did not influence my judgment. I take the liberty to make my comments on both movies, part one and part two: I start to say they are quite remarkable. The director has focused exactly on the point, showing to the world the good side of Che Guevara. He was a warrior, a warrior for a very important cause. He wasn't violent, he was at war. South America was and is controversial itself. I think Che had in mind only his fellows welfare and a precise idea of justice. Ha has lost his life fighting for them. His opponents were and are no saints. I am sure some people will not be eye to eye with me on this matter and on the movie quality too. Anyway, besides the outstanding photography and the perfect balance of the screenplay, Soderbergh has created the right atmospheres in both movies. Cuba and Bolivia stories are very different, so therefore the movies are clearly made with two different approaches, making me feel exactly what has happened in there and why the end of the stories have been so different. I think is a good testimony for the future generations. Understand what Che has tried to accomplish is important, whatever is everyone's idea of the world.

While "Che:part one", the first installment of the docu-biopic about Guevara, shows us "Che" in a victorious - albeit dull - mood, here we have only an excruciatingly dull description of his failure and death. As in the first part, these tragic events are described without the slight tension or dramatic resonance.Again, we are given no insight whatsoever about the man and his motivations. If anything, Guevara's behaviour can only raise doubts about his soundness of mind. He had a family and a good life and yet decided to leave everything behind, for the sake of misguided ideas about permanent revolution.Just like in the first part, we are shown a documentary-like version of the long and unexciting ride during the ill-fated Bolivian guerrilla. However, we are not shown the six months Guevara spent in Congo, which would have explained why the Bolivian authorities insisted in stating to the press that Guevara was still there.Neither are we shown the disastrous results of the Congolese mission, which would have explained why Guevara seems so disconsolate and acting like a doomed man running towards the inevitable defeat.The whole mood of the film is doomed and gloomy. The pace is lethargic. It is hard to believe any of the guerrilla fighters believed they could actually win, considering the odds against them, even more so Guevara, given his considerable experience of the world.What we see here is a disappointed man engaged in what he knew was a suicide mission. The reasons for which remain unexplained.

I've read up a little bit on Che before watching this film and you wanna know something, he was a real hero for the people because he only wanted to see equality for everyone and that he hated what the oppressive forces were doing to his people as well as all other Latin Americans in general! Now, I don't know about others, but to me he did the right thing by wanting socialism so that everyone had to pay their fair share. However, the powerful elite obviously weren't going to go for that. So, rather than understanding what Che Guevera wanted, they were forced to kill him in attempting to suppress the revolution. It didn't work since there were too many of his other followers who only picked up where he left off. A good example of this was when Castro continued his leadership in Cuba. As far as I'm concerned and as Che said it himself right before he died: "If you kill me, that's fine. But you're only killing a man, you'll NEVER kill the cause!" I couldn't have said it any better myself.But ... ANYWAYS.... that's why I give this film a 7 out of 10.

What an unusual movie.Absolutely no concessions are made to "Hollywood special effects" or entertainment. There is no background music, not special effects or enhanced sound.Facial expressions are usually covered by thick beards and the Spanish language is a strange monotonic lilt that sounds the same whether in the midst of a battle or talking around a campfire.I sort of viewed these movies (parts 1 and 2) as an educational experience, not really something to go and get entertained by. Its quite long and in places dull.But I suspect that given the lack of any plot development, I don't think its very educational either.Its also difficult to perceive any story from the movie dialogue - it would be a good idea to read up a little on the history so that you can understand the context of what is happening, since for some reason the director didn't see fit to inform the audience why Che's band was moving around the way they did - as a result there seem to be groups skulking around the woodland for no particular reason and getting shot at.I would have loved to give this movie more stars for somehow generating more empathy with me and developing depth of character, but somehow all of the characters were still strangers to me at the end. The stars it gets are for realism and showing the hardships of guerrilla warfare.