Che Part One - 2 smiles; Che Part Two - 1 smile

Director Steven Soderbergh’s overly long epic of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is difficult to sit through and provides no real insights about the man or his motivations. “Che Part One” is interesting while “Che Part Two” is such a chore to watch that you have to wonder what Soderbergh was thinking. “Che Part One,” focusing on the revolution in Cuba, opens in 1956, with Cubans Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir), his brother, Raul (Rodrigo Santoro), and Che (Benicio Del Toro), who is from Argentina, waging war against the corrupt, American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. The narrative jumps back and forth in time and from place to place, making it difficult for the audience to follow along. But with four hours and 17 minutes of story, at the beginning you’re willing to cut Soderbergh a little slack. Nonetheless, it’s confusing. “Che Part Two” opens almost a decade later in Bolivia, where Che has gone to repeat the revolutionary success he had in Cuba. He finds circumstances different in South America. The Bolivian Communist Party takes a non-violent stand and refuses to support him. The Americans offer more active support to the dictator, and Che does not have the strong backing of the people that he enjoyed in Cuba. Bolivia is a disaster for Che, but what’s worse, it’s over two hours of plodding story for the audience.

A successful bio-pic provides a compelling portrait of the main character, revealing the positive and the negative. Unfortunately, “Che” fails. All you learn is that Che is an idealist, believing that change occurs through revolutionary cataclysm and that the down-trodden people will recognize the struggle to improve their lot in life and actively provide support. In “Part One” his belief is substantiated; in “Part Two,” it’s not. Benecio Del Toro’s acting is satisfactory, but the script provides only a sketch of Che so there’s no depth for him to explore. And without a strong Che to anchor this looooong movie, it drifts aimlessly from one scene to the next. If you must see “Che,” see “Part One.” 1/9/09, 1/10/09