On a Revolutionary Road: Che
Che
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Running Time: 257 min.
How does it feel to be a symbol? Benicio del Toro is asked in his role as Che Guevara. Of what? he replies and is told: The revolution. But in Che, Steven Soderberghs two-part art thing, this revolution is about stylenot politics. After decades as a poster boy for counterculture hipness, Che Guevara provides Soderbergh a pretext for another idiosyncratic, uncharismatic enterprise.
(This one makes Bubble look like Gone With The Wind.) Out-perversing Gus Van Sants Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence. One cant accuse Soderbergh of pandering to feel-good piety because Che proudly resists sentimentality about peoples power, distribution of wealth, Marxist theology, radical chic or morbid celebrity.
Soderbergh glosses all that, yet still wins Leftist critical acclaim (and a WTF Cannes Best Actor prize for Del Toros inexpressive performance) because Che dead or deadeningremains a politically correct icon. It requires some new kind of orneriness to take Ches famous image (saintly pose in beret with a star or sexy pose with a cheroot hanging from his lip) and continuously alienate an audience from what it represents. Ches two halves are divided between his international fame exporting the Cuban revolution (speaking at the U.N., meeting the press) and then his Bolivian sojourn in late 1960s.Time-jumping meta-narrative contrasted with a de-centered guerrilla war semi-doc. Both halves defy absolute comprehension. Sequences are designed to prevent emotional involvement; part one is projected at 1.85 aspect ratio, part two at 1.66.This obstinate artiness resembles a Lars Von Trier scam; sure enough, each half opens with long map montages, emulating the interstitial montages of Von Triers Breaking the Waves not a good sign. In Spain Rodriguezs new comic-book novel, Che: A Graphic Biography (Verso), a poignant narrative interruption recounts Rodriguezs own memory of living through the Cuban missile crisis. It makes Ches significance personal and immediate. Soderbergh doesnt bother; hes above the personal revelations of Latin American political drama as risked by Alex Coxs Walker and Pontecorvos Burn. Neither rabble-rousing politician, humanist historian or trailblazing artiste, Soderberghs a Pseud.