Che (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Description

Product Description Far from a conventional biopic, Steven Soderbergh’s film about Che Guevara is a fascinating exploration of the revolutionary as icon. Daring in its refusal to make the socialist leader into an easy martyr or hero, Che paints a vivid, naturalistic portrait of the man himself (Benicio Del Toro, in a stunning, Cannes-award-winning performance), from his overthrow of the Batista dictatorship to his 1964 United Nations trip to the end of his short life. Composed of two parts, the first a kaleidoscopic view of the Cuban Revolution and the second an all-action dramatization of Che’s failed campaign in Bolivia, Che is Soderbergh's most epic vision.DIRECTOR-APPROVED THREE-DVD SPECIAL EDITION FEATURESHigh-definition digital masters, supervised and approved by director Steven SoderberghNew audio commentaries featuring Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary LifeMaking “Che,” a new documentary featuring Soderbergh, producer Laura Bickford, bactor-producer Benicio Del Toro, and writers Peter Buchman and Ben van der VeenInterviews with participants in and historians of the Cuban Revolution and Che’s Bolivian campaignEnd of a Revolution, a short documentary made in Bolivia right after Che's execution in 1967"Che" and the Digital Cinema Revolution, an original video piece looking at the RED camera and its effect on modern film productionDeleted scenesTheatrical trailerPLUS: A new essay by critic Amy Taubin desertcart.com Lauded for its documentary approach yet also experimental in nature, Steven Soderbergh's Che spends over four hours chronicling different phases in the revolutionary career of Che Guevara (Benicio Del Toro). In Che: Part One, the successful Cuban campaign is covered, interspersed with glimpses of Guevara's camera-ready visit to New York in the Castro Revolution's aftermath. This section can't help but approximate the outline of a battle epic, despite Soderbergh's anti-romantic approach, and ends up being a stirring account of guerrilla action (it also has the bonus of Demian Bechir's uncanny impersonation of Fidel Castro). Che: Part Two jumps ahead to Che's grueling later experiences in Bolivia, where he traveled to aid the homegrown insurgents but found much less fertile ground than in Cuba. Here Guevara is--figuratively and visually--lost in the jungle, as Soderbergh reduces the characters and story to a series of factual sequences laid end-to-end. It's not Dr. Zhivago, that's for sure, although it does last longer. By spotlighting two specific sections of Che's life, Soderbergh sidesteps the less heroic aspects of his struggle, including the executions that followed the Cuban Revolution (omissions that brought criticism from anti-Castro Cubans). But the film's approach is so intentionally flat that such criticisms are almost not worth the trouble. And while Benicio Del Toro sinks into the role of the asthmatic jungle fighter with total commitment, his Guevara is an elusive protagonist, seen from a distance except for the scenes in which he's being turned into a celebrity during his NYC interlude. In short, Che is a very intriguing idea for a movie, and not a terribly engaging film. --Robert Horton Review: modern day masterpeice - Steven Soderberghs Che is a modern day masterpeice of a complex individual and idealist.While the film may be considered slow going by todays hollywood standards of action packed films it is a throwback to old time filmmaking.The documantary syling is great much of it filmed with hand held cameras.The cast is excellent.It is a surprise this film was even made and probaly wouldnt have if not for Benicio Del Toros backing as Producer and lead actor.While many people are detractors of Che characterizing him as a murderer I never hear them talk about the butcher Batista.The rampant poverty ,corruption,illiteracy,lack of healthcare.poor living standards,no political parties( i could go on and on)under Batista. While today Cuba has the most doctors per Capita in the world,everyone is literate and most of all Cuba is not a pawn of some imperialist giant like the US.It seems to be overlooked by most people the influence of the US and its embargo.The US tryed to assassinate Fidel over 200 times over a 40 year period.Now imagine if American leaders were the subject of Assasintaion attempts by a foreign power over 40 years. How would that influence our election and domestic life?Imagine a foregn power staging attacks on American soil trying to disrupt our food supply.In the 60s and 70s Several CIA officers left the CIA in disgust over the activities carried out by the CIA some in Cuba.People like Phillip Agee and Ralph Mcgee.Phillip Agee ended up living and dying in Cuba.Arguably things were better for the Cuban people under Fidel then ever before and would have been even better if not for the US embargo which has been denounced by most of the countries in the world as illegal and unethical.Which is why everybody else is allowed to visit Cuba but us.Cuba is the most popular Carribean vaction spot for Canadians but we wouldnt know that from the US corporate media system.Which also barrages us with every negativity about Canadian healthcare finding any disgruntled Canadian to mouth off about their system while not telling us in polls that over 90% of Canadians are happy with their national healthcare system.Sure Cuba is not perfect but its the first time poor Cubans got any consideration at all, that never happened under any other leader.And didnt happen under US tutelage.So Viva la Revolucion..And thanks Che for your idealism and attempt at making the world a better , fairer place for the worlds poor. Review: "CHE": A Uniquely Epic Motion Picture on the Legend of Modern Revolution and History As Well - In having seen the Criterion Collection Blu-ray edition of the 2008 motion picture of "CHE," I was quite very impressed with the scope of the two-part semi-biographical epic on the legendary Ernesto Che Guevara, the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary, politician, philosopher, and gifted writer during the period of the late 1950's and the 1960's when Che's journey began with having joined Fidel Castro in 1955 in taking up the cause of the Cuban Revolution which then succeeded to its ultimate victory in 1959. In Part One, on the first Blu-ray disc, was based on one of Che's books about the Cuban Revolution in stages and how it showed where Castro has been leading the struggle against Batista's armed forces in a number of places around the island of Cuba with some difficulties as well as some gains at the same time. I also liked the balance of some of the scenes in both black and white as well as color in certain moments, too. In Part Two on the second Blu-ray disc, it focuses on Che's difficulties of expanding his revolutionary cause in Bolivia, which had an another balance of both some gains and failures at the same time especially with the role of the right-wing Bolivian forces constantly fighting against Che's multi-national band of rebels in the country, with some help from a CIA agent named "Ramirez," a character that I believed was based on the real-life individual named Felix Rodriguez, a Cuban exile and the man who had his picture taken with the captured Che Guevara in 1967, right before Che was murdered, execution-style by a Bolivian soldier. I would like to give praise to the performances of the cast in the two-part epic of "CHE," led by Benicio Del Toro, and they gave their very best in making the people that were part of Che Guevara's life coming to celluoid life as unique as ever. I also enjoyed the music by both Alberto Iglesias and some various artists that had contributed to the two-part film such as Silvio Rodriguez and Mercedes Sosa. I also would give credit to the screenwriters that brought their vision to the two-part "CHE" as excellent in their very best. Furthermore, I want to give Steven Soderbergh plenty of kudos for having been the best director that he gave it all in his unique approach to his vision for "CHE" as well. They really impressed me to the way this two-part motion picture had turned out in a cinematic way! I would like to add further, however, and with much disappointment, that there were no photos or film footage of the actual Che Guevara at the very end of "CHE: Part Two" and that was unfortunate because such an important use of adding real-life historical figures in the end of some, IF not at least all, epic biographical movies and TV films, would have meant to show to the curious viewers of what they want to know about such known figures of history. Like that of Malcolm X, from Spike Lee's 1992 epic movie of the same name. In contrast to the very awful, dreadful, and even very CINEMATICALLY INFERIOR, 1969 version of "CHE!", which had starred Omar Sharif as "Che" and Jack Palance as "Fidel Castro," that movie was completely wasted in terms of how it was produced, directed, and with a very shoddy screenplay, and along with the performances that were either second- or perhaps third-rate, the movie was intended to capitalize on the legacy of both Che Guevara and the 1960's when revolution was all the rage in that decade. IF I had to choose between the 1969 and 2008 versions of the semi-biographical epic on Che Guevara, I would definitely choose the 2008 version because it was a uniquely grand-scale type of movie just like about the other films from previous years as well. While I would admit to some of what the complicated aspects of Che Guevara had been in history to most people. He may have been somewhat divisive and even controversial, too. But I would NEVER think of Che as a completely negative force in the world when there are ongoing problems that are still needed to be changed for the better and certainly in the name of true social justice. As for the detractors of Che, particularly from the viewpoints of Cuban exiles, they can say whatever the heck they want about Che and Fidel Castro, but I know that NOT EVERYONE would agree with them in the end because of all the misperceptions about Che, Fidel, and the Cuban Revolution that still continues to be questioned and debated for a long time to come. So therefore, in this review of the 2008 two-part epic biographical feature film of "CHE," I highly recommend it for those who want to learn about what Che Guevara and others had meant to people in history and for movie-lovers everywhere.