Che: Parts One and Two

Not exactly Communist art, but I can't think of a better place to put this outside of Mir.

I've only just had the chance to see these movies and really enjoyed them, especially part one. I remember people talking about them a while ago, but can't find the threads they were discussed in. What do you guys think about them? Were they a fairly accurate depiction of the real Che?

I was pleased that at the end of the day, the movies were quite sympathetic to the Cuban revolution and Che himself. They didn't even shy away from pointing out some of the nasty stuff the U.S. has been up to in South America over the last 60 years. Benicio Del Toro did a great job with his take on Che, and the guy who played Fidel was good too. I would have liked to see some more of young Raul though.

Apparently, both films were shown in Cuba. Is this true?

Edit: Nevermind my last question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_%28film%29#Cuban_homecoming

Quote:

On December 7, 2008, Che premiered at Havana's 5,000+ person Karl Marx Theater as part of the Latin American Film Festival.[64] Benicio Del Toro, who was in attendance, referred to the film as "Cuban history", while remarking that "there's an audience in there ... that could be the most knowledgeable critics of the historical accuracy of the film".[64] The official state paper Granma gave Del Toro a glowing review, professing that he "personifies Che" in both his physical appearance and his "masterly interpretation".[65] After unveiling Che in Havana's Yara Cinema, Del Toro was treated to a 10-minute standing ovation from the 2,000+ strong audience, many of whom were involved in the revolution.[66]

god, I write these films off. They were due out three years ago..am I to believe they are out for Us viewing now or no?

The DVD's were only released in Australia about a month ago. They should be available in the U.S. by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_%28film%29#Home_DVD_release

Both parts are available for download online and have been for months. Pretty good movies but really long.

been behind bars for months. I haven't quite caught up to everything on the outside yet.

sorry to be out of touch..

Oh yeah, forgot. Still though they're pretty ballza so check 'em out.

I have been waiting for years for this.. I will be watching them soon!

they are good but first part is better than the second, i actually felt like the second part was boring i dunno.it felt like it was identical to the first in some ways.

why isn't there anything negative about him anyway? no butcher nickname or hysterical anti-communist stuff? the cuban exiles probably boycott that movie.

On the second DVD, there's an interview with the author of a biography of Che. He was consulted regularly about historical accuracy. He says both movies were about the most accurate depiction of Che he had seen on film. They don't try to make any judgment about him and Communism itself, only show what happened. Not everything he did was morally unquestionable, and the movies show this imo.

i saw the modern movie. the only morally questionable things he did was allowed the child soldiers in his army. executing the rapists in his army during time of war was not really wrong. i may have missed some part.

What about leaving his wife and kids to fight overseas?

Greenanarchism wrote:

why isn't there anything negative about him anyway? no butcher nickname or hysterical anti-communist stuff? the cuban exiles probably boycott that movie.

I don't know how it is in Quebec, but where I am, in Midwestern USA, there are plenty of conservatives who hate him, and liberals as well. I have a conservative friend who, when I jokingly said that I should drop out of college, become like Che, travel around, and fight for justice, basically flipped out and said, "What the frag are you talking about, man? Che spread evil. HE WAS A COMMUNIST TORTURER MURDERER AND BUTCHER." (Because clearly, Batista and the other corrupt Latin American dictators that Che urged people to revolt against were saints and just misunderstood. ) I also have a friend who is very left-wing and sympathetic to the socialist cause, but is completely adverse to anything resembling revolution and despises Marx, though she has not really read Marx, and only knows like a few passages that people like to quote about the class struggle (she doesn't even understand the concept of dialectical materialism, and when I tried to explain it, basically brushed it off as mumbo jumbo that doesn't really mean anything), and as such, she is also not a big fan of Che.

Quote:

What about leaving his wife and kids to fight overseas?

that's immoral? i see it as bad for his wife,his family and him. that's not executions. i just wonder why the so called executions which gave him the butcher nickname were not talked about at all.

Greenanarchism wrote:

i just wonder why the so called executions which gave him the butcher nickname were not talked about at all.

Oh, oops, I just realized that your last post that I responded to was talking about the movie, and not in general. Ugh... *facepalm at myself* That's embarrassing.

Quote:

Oh, oops, I just realized that your last post that I responded to was talking about the movie, and not in general. Ugh... *facepalm at myself* That's embarrassing.

it's not that embarassing it's okay. in quebec people are very positive toward che, in fact i think most people didn't know he had anything to do with castro. pierre elliot trudeau one prime minister was pal with fidel castro even though the united states was pissed about it. it's also interesting that he was friend with castro while he didn't want to negociate with marxist inspired FLQ terrorist group at all.

I actually saw these movies, which I borrowed from a public library. In my opinion, it's to Communism what "The Passion of the Christ", is to Christianity. It's climax is when Che Guevera is executed. The one reference to his alledged involvement in putting people people to death is when the one CIA agent, whom was born in Cuba, utters that he is going to shoot Che, in order to avenge his father, whom he claimed was killed by Guevera. I consider it to be a good overview of key moments in his life, except that I don't remember it showing his activities in Angola, only in Latin America.