Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Ernesto Guevara, known as 'Che', leads a group of Cuban exiles under Fidel Castro in a revolution to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, the dictator of Cuba.
Steven Soderbergh's Che: Part One is a rigorously unsentimental and procedural portrait of guerrilla warfare, favoring authenticity over conventional biopic dramatics. The cinematography by Peter Andrews (Soderbergh's pseudonym) is exceptional — handheld, naturalistic, and immersive, capturing the Cuban jungle with a documentary-like intensity that distinguishes the film visually. Benicio del Toro's committed, internalized performance is strong but the ensemble and script keep characterization deliberately thin, which serves the anti-mythologizing intent but limits emotional engagement. The plot is episodic by design, structured like a military log rather than a narrative arc, which is admirable in conception but results in a detached experience that leaves audiences at arm's length. As Part One, it ends abruptly mid-story, functioning more as a setup than a satisfying standalone conclusion, which genuinely weakens its ending as a discrete film experience. Its novelty lies in its uncompromising refusal of Hollywood biopic conventions, though the docudrama approach has precedents.