Che: Part One - The Argentine
Benicio Del Toro beards up to play iconic and divisive Marxist crusader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara in the first part of the two-film, epic biopic from director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Oceans 11). The Argentine deals with the Cuban revolution in the late '50s, from the landing of Fidel Castro, Guevara and other revolutionaries up to the toppling of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Click here for Che: Part Two - Guerilla
- Director:
- Steven Soderbergh ('Sex, Lies, and Videotape', 'Out of Sight', 'Erin Brockovich', 'Traffic', 'Oceans 11', 'Bubble')
- Writer:
- Peter Buchman
- Cast:
- Benicio Del ToroDemián BichirSantiago CabreraVladimir CruzAlfredo De QuesadaJsu Garcia
Reviews & comments
Informative AND Entertaining
Saw them both back to back during 09 film festival. If you have even a passing interest in the history then that will be enough for a great experience. They are long movies and worth it! You will engage with Benicio's performance, and understand more about the people as well as the politics. On my list of 'must see's'.
Variety
pressIf the director has gone out of his way to avoid the usual Hollywood biopic conventions, he has also withheld any suggestion of why the charismatic doctor, fighter, diplomat, diarist and intellectual theorist became and remains such a legendary figure; if anything, Che seems diminished by the way he's portrayed here.
Rolling Stone
pressChe looks dazzling, whether the camera is weaving through a battle or trying to bore into Che's haunted soul. Del Toro stands up to Soderbergh's relentless scrutiny. As for the movie, it's a reward to audiences eager to break from the play-it-safe pack. Game on.
Roger Ebert
pressBenicio Del Toro, one of the film's producers, gives a heroic performance, not least because it's self-effacing.
Los Angeles Times
pressThe political realities of his legacy can be endlessly debated, but in this flawed work of austere beauty, the logistics of war and the language of revolution give way to something greater, a struggle that may be defined by politics but can't be contained by it.
Hollywood Reporter
pressIf this earnest, two-part biopic with a total running time of 268 minutes sometimes lacks cinematic flair, the straight-ahead, chronologically-driven film will inform and, to a somewhat lesser extent, excite viewers everywhere.
Variety
pressIf the director has gone out of his way to avoid the usual Hollywood biopic conventions, he has also withheld any suggestion of why the charismatic doctor, fighter, diplomat, diarist and intellectual theorist became and remains such a legendary figure; if anything, Che seems diminished by the way he's portrayed here.
Rolling Stone
pressChe looks dazzling, whether the camera is weaving through a battle or trying to bore into Che's haunted soul. Del Toro stands up to Soderbergh's relentless scrutiny. As for the movie, it's a reward to audiences eager to break from the play-it-safe pack. Game on.
Roger Ebert
pressBenicio Del Toro, one of the film's producers, gives a heroic performance, not least because it's self-effacing.
Los Angeles Times
pressThe political realities of his legacy can be endlessly debated, but in this flawed work of austere beauty, the logistics of war and the language of revolution give way to something greater, a struggle that may be defined by politics but can't be contained by it.
Hollywood Reporter
pressIf this earnest, two-part biopic with a total running time of 268 minutes sometimes lacks cinematic flair, the straight-ahead, chronologically-driven film will inform and, to a somewhat lesser extent, excite viewers everywhere.
Informative AND Entertaining
Saw them both back to back during 09 film festival. If you have even a passing interest in the history then that will be enough for a great experience. They are long movies and worth it! You will engage with Benicio's performance, and understand more about the people as well as the politics. On my list of 'must see's'.
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