Che: Part Two (Guerrilla)

Never tell an asthmatic to stop smoking.

For those of you who are familiar with Che Guevara's life beyond his t-shirt appearances, this movie takes place after Cuba. Specifically, in Bolivia.

Like the first film, director Steven Soderbergh starts out again with a long map sequence, but this time of the entire South American continent. You'll get to see the different South American countries relative to each other. So those of you who think that Ecuador is within walking distance from Uruguay, think again. That's the same thing as people thinking Los Angeles is close to New York because they're both in the USA. Mostly, it's island people who think that way. That's because we have no sense of continentality (spell-check says that wasn't a word).

Benicio is terrific, as usual. But seeing his facial hair makes me itch. I was like, "Get a shave, man!"

He looks like John the Baptist or some other unkempt Biblical character.

Anyway, because this takes place in Bolivia, we have very few scenes showing the great performance of Demián Bichir as Fidel Castro, and of Rodrigo Santoro just showing us his beautiful face.

"Just a few seconds, okay?"

But don't fret, because now we have Franka Potente. Wait, what? Isn't she that German chick from Lola Rennt and from the first two Bourne movies? Yes she is. And she speaks Spanish. What a turn on.

"I wonder if female revolutionaries also grow beards."

Half-Filipino Lou Diamond Phillips is also here, albeit just for a few minutes.

"I've grown fat."

His clean-shaven face provides a welcome break from all the scruffy-looking guerrillas. It'll make you want to take the first flight to Bolivia, launch an expedition to the jungles, and donate some Mach 3 razors to the revolution.

Also available in red, for the true Communists.

This film would be a great film to watch, especially for upper-middle-class folk who want to be enlightened and renounce their bourgeois lifestyle. This'll make you understand, at least on a shallow level, what the socialist revolutionaries are fighting for, what they do to survive, and why the hell they use fake names.

Spoiler alert: Che dies. Duh. That's why he's on millions of t-shirts right now.


Che: Part Two. Spain/France/USA. 2008.


Rating: Eight out of ten.
Franka Potente speaking Spanish: Plus one point.
Wanting to shave off all the facial hair of the revolutionaries: Minus one point.
Final rating: Still eight out of ten.



*some info from IMDb
pics from Mr. Pearl 11 and VLC



You may also want to read the review for Che: Part One.