Che: Part One-The Argentine (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Biopic	Featurette-Che Featurette Interviews-Crew-Interview with director Steven Soderbergh Teaser Trailer Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	128:32 (Case: 126)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (77:22)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Steven Soderbergh
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Julia Ormond Benicio Del Toro Oscar Isaac Pablo Guevara Franklin Díaz Armando Suárez Cobián Rodrigo Santoro María Isabel Díaz Demián Bichir Mateo Gómez
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	Alberto Iglesias

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    It took producer Laura Bickford and actor Benicio del Toro ten years to film this biopic on the life of Che Guevara. Originally the idea was to make a film on Guevara's attempt to spread the idea of political revolution in Bolivia, based on Jon Lee Anderson's 1997 biography Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. When Bickford and del Toro learnt that director Terrence Malick was in Bolivia in 1966 working on a story about Che they requested him to write a screenplay. Malick did so until funding ran out and Malick subsequently went on to direct The New World in 2005. At this point the pair sought out Steven Soderbergh to direct. He had not been interested years before (the trio had worked together on Traffic in 2000 when the idea of Che had been discussed) but he agreed after Peter Buchman was commissioned to write a new screenplay.

    Buchman found that the story of Guevara's exploits in Bolivia needed context, so the story was expanded to include Guevara's involvement in the Cuban revolution in the late 1950s. Guevara's address to the UN in 1964 was also included so that the audience could better understand the ideology behind his desire to assist revolutionary factions in other countries. Why Guevara's exploits in Angola are left out therefore was always a mystery to me, until you realise that the initial premise of the film was to make one 2 hour film. It took quite some time for Buchman, del Toro and Soderbergh to revise the screenplay and decide to shoot the film in two parts; the first part, The Argentine required more research and revisions prior to shooting.

    Both parts of Che, Part One - The Argentine and Part Two - Guerrilla, were shot back-to-back for 39 days each. Part Two - Guerrilla was shot first in Spain, while Part One - The Argentine was shot in Puerto Rico and Mexico. Part One looks at Che Guevara's first meeting with Fidel Castro in Mexico City in 1955, his joining of the July 26th Movement (the name of the guerrilla movement led by Castro to overthrow the Batista government eventually in 1959), the organisation and training of guerrilla forces, the battle of Santa Clara and the march into Havana. Interspersed among these scenes of the Cuban uprising are scenes of Guevara's arrival in New York City in 1964, including his interview with Lisa Howard and his address to the United Nations General Assembly. The New York City scenes are cleverly shot in black-and-white stock footage format with intentional grain to make the scenes look historic.

    The funding for Che: Parts One and Two dried up when the decision was made to film entirely in Spanish. The aim of the filmmakers was to present a balanced account of the life of Che Guevara, and for this reason the film had to made in Spanish. Director Steven Soderbergh has not tried to make an over-dramatised account of Guevara's military conflicts; this is not a Hollywood account of the events of Guevara's life. If it was then Alberto Iglesias' score would be more emphatic and there would have been more instances of mood music used. Rather, Che is a dialogue-driven film made in an independent style, the style Soderbergh is renowned for. To date Che: Parts One and Two has made an $US18 million loss against what it cost to make, but I believe this film and Traffic are the types of movies that director Steven Soderbergh will be remembered for rather than for his big-budget Hollywood films such as Erin Brockovich or the Ocean's films.

Video

    Che: Part One - The Argentine includes scenes that have been shot in black-and-white and include intentional grain and noise so the cinematography looks dated to the mid-1960s.

    The aspect ratio of the film is 2:35:1, 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

    Che: Part One looks quite impressive on DVD, sharp and vibrant. The decision was made to shoot in an aspect ratio of 2:35:1 in Puerto Rico and Mexico to incorporate dolly, crane and steadicam shots. The main presentation takes up 5.88 gb of space on a dual-layered DVD with an average bitrate of 6.21 m/b per sec.

    The storyline of Che: Part One, with the July 26th Movement victorious, meant that the look of the film was warm and vibrant.

    There are no film artefacts in the video transfer because the film was shot digitally with a RED One camera in 4K.

    Subtitles are available for dialogue in Spanish but the voice over in English and other occasional dialogue in English is not subtitled. Subtitles are on by default when you choose to watch the film via the main menu, they can be switched off 'on-the-fly' via your DVD remote.

     The RSDL change occurs at 77:22 during a scene change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Alberto Iglesias' score supports this mainly dialogue-driven film really well. Sound has been mixed well for all channels.

    There are two audio tracks in Spanish. The default option when you play the film is the Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track at 224 kbps, but the better option is to choose to view the film with the other soundtrack, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 448 kbps. You can choose soundtracks 'on-the-fly' from your DVD remote.

    Dialogue is clear and audio is synchronised.

    The sound design supports the sounds of the jungle and of gun-fighting, music is used as a subtle support for the opening scene, for scene transitions or for contextual scenes (i.e. scenes that show action in context and are not pivotal scenes).

    Surround channel usage captures the battle scenes well, with sound coming from all speakers.

     The subwoofer captures the sound of explosions in a realistic manner.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Featurette on Che (10:50)

    This extra is in Spanish and it includes scenes from the film. It is not 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

Interviews-Crew with director Steven Soderbergh (13:20)

    This interview is presented in a standard EPK (or electronic press kit) format with questions shown as text and Soderbergh answering those questions (which mainly focus on the processes involved in getting the film made). This extra is in the aspect ratio of 1:85:1, 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions.

Teaser Trailer (1:18)

    This is the teaser trailer that was shown prior to the film's theatrical release.

Theatrical Trailer (1:25)

    This trailer was shown during the film's theatrical run in cinemas.

    Che: Part One has been released in Region 1 in the United States as a 3 DVD box set with Che:Part Two in the Criterion Collection. The standout feature of this release are the extras, as the video and audio transfer are fairly similar to the Region 4 release by Paramount Pictures. My Region 1 Criterion copy of Che:Part 1 takes up 6.56 gb of space on a dual-layered DVD, with an average bitrate of 6.67 m/b per sec. There is no Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack on the Region 1 release, rather a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack is reserved for biographer Jon Lee Anderson's audio commentary.

    Disc 3 of this box set includes a 50 minute Making Che documentary about the making of the film, a 33 minute feature called Che and the Digital Revolution which looks at the digital camera technology, a 26 minute documentary from 1968 by Brian Moser entitled End of a Revolution which looks at Che's failed Bolivian campaign, 20 minutes of deleted scenes, a 35 minute interview sequence entitled Interviews from Cuba conducted by producer Laura Bickford and star Benicio Del Toro in Cuba with actual participants in the revolution and some historians who discuss its long-range effect on Cuba’s history at the time and after the fact, a 20 page booklet which includes an essay by film critic Amy Taubin and a foldout poster of Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara.

    The Region 2 release of Che: Part One by Optimum Releasing is identical to the Region 4 release, with the same video and audio transfers and extras. The Region 2 release is also available as a 2-disc box set including Che: Part Two, whereas the Region 4 releases of Che by Paramount Pictures are currently only available as separate movies.

    The overwhelming quality of extras on the Region 1 Criterion release makes that version the best available on DVD, but if you are content with just viewing the film without a plethora of extra features then the Region 4 release of Che: Part One - The Argentine is more than suitable.

    Che is a not a film for everyone mainly due to its length over two parts. Perhaps the extensive research that went into the project, with details included in the film from Che Guevara's own diaries, Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War and Bolivian Diary, makes the action hard to follow if you are not familiar with the story. Nevertheless, I believe that this film will grow in critical status for director Steven Soderbergh in the ensuing years and the role of Che Guevara will become a career-defining role for actor Benicio del Toro. I'm glad at least that Che is available on DVD in Region 4, hopefully it will be released as a 2-disc box set with Part Two in the future, as it has been in Region 1 in the United States and Region 2 in the United Kingdom.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall