CHE: PART TWO (2008)

“Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality in a revolutionary.”

In a way this second part is a concluding part of Che’s life after Cuban revolution. Soderbergh made it as a single film but may be due to length it was decided to release it in two parts and in most of the theatres both parts were released on the same day or after a week's interval. It’s a wise & favorable decision for viewers as well as for the film. No matter how fine a film may be, one can’t watch it sitting at the stretch for four hours. Secondly due to single production the consistency of the film and characters remains intact.

As first past covers his journey to bring Cuban revolution, the second part tells the later tragic life story of this influential figure. Just after Cuban revolution Castro became the new leader but Che started exploring other borders. He again left his home and family in 1966 and went to La Paz in disguise to pursue another communist revolution in Bolivia. He met comrades there and training them for guerilla warfare. Survival was challenging for them in remote hostile territorial jungle; for so many days they’re without food and faced harsh weather. Locals quit supporting them and constantly they’ve to hide from search aircraft. Che’s asthmatic condition becoming severe without medicines during this unfavorable time; when Bolivian president Barrientos’ with the help of CIA ordered army to execute all rebels including Che. With locals support they soon sniffed them and executed them all.

Unlike first part the movie seems bit dragging one, repetitive and flat in narration as its plot gradually moving towards tragic end of Che’s unfulfilled mission and execution but the spirit and integrity remains intact. Like first, the film has some great visuals, matching background score and tense moments too. The last shot of the film is again striking one where Che’s confronting bullets and my god I’ve never seen such an intense execution where viewer becomes so subjectively involved with visual and sound.

Che Guevara was just 30 years old when he brought revolution to Cuba and 39 years old when he was captured & executed in Bolivia. The best eulogy after his death came from his long-lasting comrade Fidel Castro- “If we wish to express what we want the men of future generations to be, we must say: Let them be like Che! If we wish to say how we want our children to be educated, we must say without hesitation: We want them to be educated in Che’s spirit! If we want the model of a man, who does not belong to our times but to the future, I say from the depths of my heart that such a model, without a single stain on his conduct, without a single stain on his action, is Che!”

Soderbergh & Del Toro paid great tribute to him with a medium which caters the largest audience.

Ratings-8/10