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The Examiner Essentials are the movies everyone should watch, know and love. And if you watch and know but don't love, it's okay because you will still be an improved person for taking part in your own betterment. But the chances are, you'll love these movies. A list of all the Essentials can be found here.
Title: Che (2008)
Director: Steven Soderbergh (The Informant!, Traffic, Oceans 11-13, Erin Brockovich, Solaris)
Starring: Benicio Del Toro (Big Top Pee-wee, Swimming With Sharks, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
ex-Factor: Benicio Del Toro. One of the best actors working today, Del Toro has not been as ubiquitous as many of his contemporaries. He seems to carefully pick his projects, especially after winning a Best Actor Oscar for his work in Soderbergh's Traffic. And he is the person responsible for nurturing this film and bringing it to life. While making Traffic, Del Toro approached Soderbergh to be the director, and though he did not agree right away, he did eventually come on to the project, making Del Toro directly responsible for this unlikely yet near perfect combination of material and director.
The Story: Che is split into two parts, The Argentine and The Guerrilla, and though both parts are currently only available on separate DVDs, the initial New York-Los Angeles theatrical run of Che included a "Special Roadshow" edition, in which both movies were played back to back as one film, with a twenty-minute intermission between halves. The result is a four-hour epic that nears brilliance, and as this is the version I have seen in theaters (lucky me!), this is the version I recommend. Simply buy (or rent) both parts and watch them back to back with your own short little intermission. By doing this, you will get the fuller, richer experience, as well as a larger and more epic story. It all starts with Ernesto "Che" Guevara at the United Nations, speaking as to the intentions of the Cuban Revolution. These scenes at the U.N. are inter-cut with Che's start in the revolution, which includes a very low-key and understated introduction between Guevara and some guy named Fidel Castro. They eat dinner and discuss the problems of classism, prevalent in both Cuba (Castro's home) and South America (Argentina especially, Guevara's home). From there the two actually head into Cuba on a boat with 80 other men as the beginning of the July 26th Movement. The Cuban Revolution is shown from the ground up. Soderbergh gives glimpses of recruitment, training and leadership, and builds the film to the attack on Havana by the rebels. Soderbergh is not known for directing action, but here he shows that he can roll with the best of them.
After the successful coup in Havana (spoiler!), the story switches to Che's time after Cuba, in which he tries to bring the communist revolution to other parts of the world. It is important to note here that Che saw communism as the answer to the class problems found all over the world. This is not the red scare of the USSR and China, the ideological boogeyman that plagued Americans during the Cold War. Che simply saw the grave inequalities between the Haves and the Have Nots, and truly believed that communism was the best way to help the lower classes. In his travels he saw poor families pushed off their own land by the rich, and he saw the hoarding of wealth, and the lack of education for the poor, and he set out to do something about it. And while it worked in Cuba (initially), his subsequent attempts at revolution failed to gain any traction. Part two of Che picks up with Guevara's last attempt at revolution in Bolivia, and unlike Cuba, everything went wrong with this one. With a lack of supplies, reliable man power or support from the communist party, Che pressed forward in Bolivia, all the way to his own death (spoiled again! Seriously, read a history book). These scenes of a doomed revolution are inter-cut with scenes of the Bolivian government trying to quell the revolution, which included publicly denying the presence of Che Guevara in Bolivia and getting military support from the U.S. Government (who was doing the same thing at the same time with a little French colony called Vietnam).
Why It's Essential: Che has many things going for it to make it essential viewing for film junkies. Among filmatists, the name Steven Soderbergh means quite a bit, as he has become an interesting, innovative and prolific director over the past 15 years or so. He walks the line of "one for them, one for me" (like splitting up his star-studded, crowd pleasing Oceans 11 movies with more experimental lower profile films like Bubble, The Good German and Full Frontal), and Che is definitely more of a "one for me" type of deals. After all, what is commercially viable in a movie about a communist revolutionary, shot almost entirely in Spanish and presented with subtitles? Nothing, that's what. Maybe that's part of what attracted Soderbergh in the first place, the fact that this movie would be so defiantly non-commercial. He did not set out to make a mega blockbuster, but instead set out to make a piece of art about one of the more controversial figures in modern history. And he also does so without getting into the rights and wrongs of the politics of the day, and instead focuses on what Che Guevara himself focused on, the ideals of basic human rights. And Soderbergh the innovator brought along one of his favorite new toys, the Red One digital camera, which comes as close as currently possible to replicating the lush and vibrant look of film with digital video. 
While Soderbergh (and his cinematographer alter ego Peter Andrews) are responsible for the beautiful and carefully constructed look of the film, its heart and soul is a product of lead actor Del Toro. Through his performance, it is easy to see why so many people would be drawn to his charisma and personality, even decades after his death. Del Toro plays Che with a quiet cool, the kind of guy who does not announce his presence because he doesn't need to, everyone just gravitates towards him. And as the revolution grows, so does Che's stature among the men. Everyone saw him as a doctor, a teacher, a leader and a friend (hence the "Che" nickname, which is the Spanish equivalent of "man" or "dude," and used as a term of endearment and affection).
Most importantly, Che is a portrayal of a man with ideals. Soderbergh and Del Toro show Che as a man struggling against the notion that only a few can have the wealth and education and the necessary means for a better life. They sought to go beyond the Mass Murderer of Che's detractors and beyond the iconic image of Che that graces t-shirts and dorm room walls in colleges across the world, and that is where they find a closer and more honest portrait of who he was. This is not a biopic that walks through the motions, hitting on every important and semi-important event in Guevara's life. Instead Soderbergh shows us who Guevara was through two distinct chapters in his life, emphasizing Che's desires to improve humanity and bring equality to those who lack it. There is also no judgment of the man, either positive or negative, and instead the movie exists as an examination, from which people can make their own assessments.
Memorable Scene: One of the more memorable scenes is a matter of technical brilliance, which probably goes unnoticed by most viewers. During the raid on Havana, a train loaded with soldiers is on its way to combat the rebels. In one shot and with no cutaways or edits, the camera follows several rebels (including Che) as they crouch along a low wall, waiting for the train to approach. As it does, they round a corner, bringing the train into view right before it hits a rigged section of track that sends it careening on its side and skidding to a halt. The soldiers then pour out of the crashed train only to be met by gunfire. Much like most of Soderbergh's output, there is a sneaky genius to this scene and its presentation (remember, this is the same guy that made Oceans 13 seem like an easy breezy time at the movies despite actually being a very technically challenging film to execute).
Along with the sneaky genius of this scene is the way the end of the film is handled. Che's execution is shown as a first-person POV shot, putting the viewer in the subjective mindset of Che. For four hours we objectively follow this man and we see what he goes through in the name of his ideology, but it is not until the very end that Soderbergh so plainly and matter-of-factly put us in Che's shoes. And the gradual build to this shot is powerful, forcing the audience to experience the end as Che did. Then comes the final images of the movie: first there is a close-up shot of Che's corpse, tightly wrapped up and being transported on a helicopter. This is followed by a shot from the beginning of Part One (another reason why watching the two parts as one film is highly recommended), as Che rides on the boat into Cuba with the July 26th Movement, taking those first steps to being a revolutionary, his ideals and goals at their freshest and most sincere. Juxtaposing this image with that of the wrapped corpse, it is as if Soderbergh is pointing to the man's ideology and legacy, both of which live on far longer than the man himself.
Fun Fact: Before Soderbergh came on as director, Terrence Malick was attached to the project and subsequently left when funding fell through.
Also recommended: The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
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