Che - Part One and Part Two [DVD]

The first disc [rated 12] plays three trailers and some TV adverts before going to main menu of play, scene selection, set-up [2.0/5.1, subtitles on/off] and extras [featurette, interview, trailers]. Disc two [part 2, rated 15] has a similar start up sequence but three interviews and trailers. The format of the first disc is similar to a documentary with flashback clips forming the bulk of the film, the second is more like a ‘normal’ film.Starting at a point where Che meets Fidel Castro in Mexico, you’d be forgiven [like me] for thinking you’d put the wrong disc in. There was no mention of Che’ three epic hiking journeys around Latin America, nothing about his time as a medical student and his early radicalisation, nothing about the various coups he became inadvertently caught up in. [lose a *]. Running at a little over two hours the first disc is generally fast paced; although the first half hour is quite plodding. and it has more to do with Fidel than Che. Basically it covers the Cuban Revolution from inception to the fall of Batista.The second disc sees Che arriving in Bolivia, there is no mention of his work in Cuba, the expeditionary force in the Congo which sickened him in its barbarity or other incidents [lose another *]. It’s much slower paced and more political rambling but does indicate the whole campaign was severely flawed and shows some of the tensions in the group. Interesting to see Lou Diamond Phillips as Monje.I really wanted to rate this as a five, but technically it’s a *** at best as –unless you’re a Guevarist or know about the subject, it is confusing in places, although the atmosphere does pull it back to a grudging ****. It's also a story worth telling just not in 4 fours and not concentrating on just two of his books books!

Other reviewers have given very good plot summaries of the film, so I won't add my own. I found both films interesting and informative. At times I felt I was watching a docu drama, which is not meant to be a criticism. The acting is very solid with Benicio del Toro delivering another excellent performance in the title role. Also very good is Demián Bichir as Fidel Castro. Good biopic about a man everybody has heard about and few know much about.Now to the DVD release and the reason for the four star rating (the film, both parts of it, would deserve five stars). Biggest problem: the language option. Singular. The product description mentions Spanish and English, which led me to believe there was an English dubbed soundtrack. Wrong. There is only the one option, with the majority of the dialogue in Spanish, only short passages are in (mostly heavily accented) English. There are optional English subtitles for the Spanish dialogue but, somewhat strangely, none for the English bits. And they would be helpful. I'm good with Spanish native speakers delivering English lines, and in this case the accents are absolutely appropriate in the context of the film, but fact is that some of it is difficult to understand. So subtitles for all dialogue would be nice.Nice are the generous extra features included: - Exclusive Interview with [director] Steven Soderbergh - Behind the Scenes Featurette - Exclusive Interview with Benicio del Toro - Interview with Alberto Iglesias (Composer) - Interview with Jon Lee Anderson (Author of 'Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life) - Trailers

When the two films did their cinema rounds, I was abroad & missed the first one....having grown up with that red & black iconic poster, I wanted to watch them in correct sequence, and eventually ordered the 2-film box. With Benicio del Toro in the lead role, I was anticipating a couple of fascinating films.A decade later, one flood & two house moves on, the DVD set finally surfaced.At first, I thought there maybe weren't sub-titles for some of the introductory 'documentary-style' scenes....then I started to notice very large-font, cut-in-half text in the lower black bar (using 16:9/auto)....and soon realised there was probably another lower row of text below that, totally invisible.All 'aspect' options & settings on the newish 65" 4k tv failed to 'unhide' the row & a half of text....great picture, though....a cambridge player, an oppo player, and a high-spec panasonic, all unable to find the missing text.I'm surprised I appear to have the only copy that has this fault (not much chance of a refund now ;0) but I suppose it happens. I'm sure it's at least a 4* film, but not when you can't follow the dialogue.I guess I'll have to hope this turns up on Netflix, Amazon Prime, or some other old film channel, otherwise, an expensively unwatchable film for me.

I watched the first part of this film when I bought the set, but it took me 4 years before I finally got around to watching part 2. Thankfully the films are separate to each other so you don't really have to watch them in order or one after the other.Part one deals with the rise of Che and the overthrow of the Government which is by far the better of the 2 films. The second part deals with his time in Bolivia and his attempts to mobilise and train a Guerrilla movement to overthrow the Bolivian government. I didn't really feel that the film moved forward. It was interesting to see how he struggled to keep the group together and prevent some infighting and at the same time peasants he was trying to help were turning against him through fear of reprisals from police and military. You get the feeling that the country perhaps wasn't ready for a revolution at that time.I have absolutely no interest in politics and don't fully understand the different regimes, but you do get a flavour of what Che was trying to achieve. If you want to go back further in his life to try and understand him a little better, I would recommend the motorcycle diaries.The Blu-ray quality is superbly clear and sub-titles are easy to read regardless of what was on-screen at the time. The audio was perfectly acceptable using TV speakers.