DVDs in Review

Che - Parts One and Two - The Complete Story

Title: Che - Parts One and Two - The Complete Story (2008)

Release date: June 29 2009

Certificate: 15

Format: Reviewed on DVD, available on Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £29.99

Rating: 4/5

Benicio Del Toro seemed born to play Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, the revolutionary leader who attempted to overthrow the president of Cuba alongside Fidel Castro. Guevara is an Argentine doctor who after joining the group of 80 rebels shows plenty of promise as a guerrilla fighter and also blooms as a politician and philosopher. But is he a saint of a people-powered revolution or a heartless executor?

Directed by Steven Soderbergh ('Traffic') and split into two films ('The Argentine' and 'Guerrilla'), this sprawling epic totals over four hours and would never be described as an easy journey.

Indeed we see our 'hero' trekking across harsh Bolivian jungle, coughing and spluttering, shooting and being shot at all while being driven by overwhelming integrity for his cause. We view it from his increasingly hazy point of view.

There isn't really a slant on the man either, heroes and villains take a sideline to the journey itself. 'Che' could be described as a road movie but without adopting that many comfy cars. Soderbergh doesn't treat it as a sightseeing trip for his viewers either, instead offering gradual build-ups to Che's most important battles - a triumphant attack on Cuba and a fall in Bolivia with a break for a family life in-between.

Flipping between colour and grainy black and white, always gesticulating with his handheld camera work and at times pausing for long thoughts, 'Che' is a tough entrance to a challenging subject. However, to gloss it up would've drastically missed the mark - much like the plethora of t-shirts and other merchandise which ironically become a staple of mass capitalism.

As a singular film, it sits awkwardly - too short to be a miniseries and too long for a single sitting. With plenty of editing of the walking sequences it could have become a three hour film but lost its grit and epic stature, or with extra scenes added it could have filled in more historical gaps but become unbearably big.

It's a hard topic to cover at the best of times, but regardless of its initial feel Del Toro is a revelation. See it for him alone. The DVDs from Optimum contain plenty of interview footage. A documentary on the man himself wouldn't have gone a miss, but there's plenty of room for exploration in the films themselves.