Movie Matters: Che: Special Screening at E Street

The producers of "Che" starring Benicio del Toro presented a special screening of the film last night at the E Street Theater. I attending this 263 minute screening primarily because Laura Bickford, one of the film's producers, and Benicio Del Toro agreed to take questions after the film. The most important question for a film that asks it's audience to sit still and stay awake for 4 and a half hours is "why the hell is this movie so loooong?" The answer proffered by the film markers was that this was the shortest movie they could make about Che that didn't suck. I get their point, but I would recommend seeing Part 1 in the theater and seeing part 2 on DVD at some point in your life.

The first part is about Che's role in the Cuban revolution. The second part is about Che's failed campaign to bring the same kind of revolution to Bolivia nearly a decade later. It's clear that the film makers are in love with Che's ideals, but in the Q & A session they said they didn't set out to glorify his methods but instead to pose a question to the audience; why did Che see armed combat as the only way to achieve his ideals? This explanation seems like a way to dodge responsibility for the fact that the movie depicts warfare as a noble endeavor to be engaged in if you are fighting for the oppressed. This line of thinking leads to things like the Bush policy of "bringing freedom" to the middle east. As long as we accept that War is alright in some cases then we will continue to see human life wasted on the battlefield. I think Che's story is important and worth telling but the story should have had more context and less fawning of the "great revolutionary."