Director: Steven Soderbergh
Producers: Laura Bickford and Benicio del Toro
Writers:Peter Buchman (screenplay) and
Benjamin A. van der Veen (screenplay)…
Cast: Benicio del Toro, Franka Potente, Rodrigo Santoro…
Original Music: Alberto Iglesias

I was attending Cannes festival when Steven Soderbergh’s Che was premiered: I found most odd to see a Film portraying one of the most relevant Socialism icons in a place that is an exaggeration of the Capitalist way of life. I couldn’t see it at that time as it is almost impossible to get tickets to certain movies If you’re not Brad Pitt. I wondered how a North American movie (in co-production with Spain and France) would approach such a delicate subject, also considering that Soderbergh directed movies such as the Ocean’s eleven trilogy.

The film is almost impeccable:

The composition is perfect. All elements in the screen are intelligently and intentionally in their place helping to describe all different atmospheres and situations. There is a particular sequence were guerrilla men and animals are shown in the jungle that I found beautiful and honored the soviet montage theories.

Acting is superb. The fact that the story is told in the original Language is key to the realism of the film and a very challenging thing to do. (It seemed that Mel Gibson was the only one interested on preserving original languages on American mainstream movies… you’re not alone anymore Mel, not anymore)

I’m not sure if the movie is screened with subtitles in non-spanish speaking countries… hope so.

Benicio del Toro (won the Best Actor award on Cannes 08 for this one) accomplished an outstanding Che Guevara. He must have spent much time preparing the role because he even speaks a very credible Spanish with Argentinian accent (I’m argentinian so I should know). All actors are perfect in their role. Rodrigo Santoro’s Fidel Castro is very good also.

There is somewhat of an issue with the sound of the movie watching it in spanish with no subtitles: some parts are hardly understandable, maybe in the mix they weren’t all that concerned for native spanish speakers. Who knows…

The story is very faithful to real events. For anyone who has read Che’s diaries it’s all very familiar; his attitudes and portrayed situations respect existing documents on the subject. (except for minor details)
And maybe this has a downside: if you’re not very familiar with the true events, I’m sure many things are obscure.

In my opinion, the film it’s extremely empathetic. It connected me with the feelings and experiences of people who lived in a very different time and place than my own. It made me feel Human.
And these makes much sense with Che Guevara’s beliefs (political inclinations aside)

So I’m gladly surprised to see a North American mainstream director making a truthful movie on such a difficult subject.

Maybe he’s trying to say: Guerrilla people, communists and t-shirt icons are Human too.