Che: Part Two

Che: Part Two (2008) is set in Bolivia. Guevara leaves his posts in Cuba, enters Bolivia under a false identity and tries to build a guerrilla force there. Everything from the first film is inverted: there is no support, the local people do not join, the radio does not work, the medicine runs out and the men are ill. The contrast between the two films is Soderbergh's actual idea. The first covers a campaign that succeeds and the second a campaign that fails, told by the same method, with the same patience and the same procedural language. Only the outcome differs. The form changes too. The New York and United Nations layer of the first film is gone; the second runs straight through in chronological order and never steps outside. The image narrows as it goes and the final section is almost entirely in the forest. Guevara was killed in Bolivia on 9 October 1967, the day after his capture. The film runs up to that day. Benicio del Toro continues in the role and won Best Actor at Cannes in 2008 for both films. Soderbergh shot both on the RED One digital camera. It runs 135 minutes. Good for: political history, military procedure, and Benicio del Toro. Less good for: it makes no sense without the first film. The pace is very slow and the plot is deliberately repetitive; as the campaign collapses the film repeats the same scenes. Guevara's politics and what he did after the revolution are once again left entirely alone.