Che! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Che! Blu-ray Movie Review

"The revolution will not be televised," but this particular one probably shouldn't have been filmed.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 24, 2014

If you’re a Baby Boomer or older, chances are you remember the glut of Che Guevara posters and t-shirts that became virtually unavoidable in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Che Guevara obviously became a kind of iconic symbol for the counterculture movement of that era, and yet the man himself has always remained something of an enigma. Those looking for some insight into this legendary figure of 20th century revolutionary fervor might want to forego 1969’s largely lamentable Che!, a film which combines improbable casting (Omar Sharif as Che and Jack Palance as Fidel Castro), an at times hilariously inartful screenplay, and a lack of perspective that plays a bit like the cinematic equivalent of that famous episode of Lawrence Welk where he applauded the “new spiritual” tune “One Toke Over the Line”. Somewhat similarly, Che! reeks of establishment Hollywood desperately trying to appear hip, as if the zeitgeist that had given birth to 1969’s true revolutionary film Easy Rider could be ported over into a lumbering, relatively big budget “epic” biography with no problem. This fanciful and heavily redacted overview of the revolutionary period of Che’s life may appeal to those with a hunger for camp; others wishing for a more complete and bracing account of the revolutionary’s life will probably want to stick with Steven Soderbergh’s generally excellent (albeit quite lengthy) Che, or even The Motorcycle Diaries, a film which helps to explicate some of Guevara's pre-Cuban adventures.

Was Che Guevara a noble minded provocateur or a rabble rousing madman? Che! doesn’t really seem to know how to get a handle on the character, and so it provides a number of “fly on the wall” perspectives, including a bunch of first person confessionals delivered straight to the camera, that supposedly attempt to give a “well rounded” portrait of the man, but end up doing little more than scatter the various traits of Che around like they’re being buffeted by the breeze that wafts through the forest in Rashômon. This very refusal to give the film a firm point of view seems to be very much in line with the very idea of a big Hollywood studio making a film about a counterculture hero: the bean counters on the backlot want to make sure that no one, not the then prevalent “youth market” and certainly not the more “respectable” older generation, is overly offended by any portrayal in the film.

Sadly, this was the last produced screenplay (co-)written by the esteemed scenarist Michael Wilson, a man who had suffered for his own “revolutionary” beliefs courtesy of the Hollywood blacklist, seeing his work go uncredited (or mis-credited) on such films as Friendly Persuasion, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia, before finally reemerging under his own name in the mid- to late sixties with such efforts as The Sandpiper and Planet of the Apes. For some reason, though, Wilson (and his collaborator Sy Bartlett) never really get a handle on their subject, and in fact distract repeatedly from Che’s story by including the completely odd elements like performers breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience, something that immediately pulls the viewer out of the contextual experience.

The film also indulges in a questionable gambit of making Castro something of a cartoon figure (something not helped by Palance’s hyperbolic, cigar chomping performance), while Che is shown to be the brains (and even more incredibly, the brawn) of the operation, springing heroically into action to salvage Castro’s initially disastrous “invasion” of Cuba. Che! coasts through the skirmishes that eventually establish Castro as Cuba’s ruler, without ever really insightfully examining why Che got involved.

Che! is frankly probably not quite as bad as its reputation might indicate, which is not to suggest it's actually very good. It’s big, often quite noisy, and for all its faults, rarely dull. But this is a wrongheaded enterprise from almost the first moment, an “old Hollywood” attempt at forging film around an unlikely subject. Had one of the then “new guard” of Hollywood’s nascent indie movement undertaken this project, it might have had the right spirit to provide its audience with some indication of what exactly was motivating youthful rabble rousers like Che in the first place. Instead, Che! ironically ends up mimicking a scene from Che’s life (or, more appropriately, death) which is depicted in the film itself, luridly photographing a corpse.

Che! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Che! is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.37:1. Elements utilized for this transfer are in great shape in terms of damage or age related issues, but the color never really fully pops, often looking a bit on the drab and dusty side. Detail is quite commendable, however, to the point that Palance's prosthetic nose becomes something of a distraction in close-ups. Some of the outdoor location photography boasts impressive depth of field. Overall sharpness is well above average, though the film is never startlingly clear and precise looking. There are no problematic artifacts to report, nor any overt signs of digital tweaking.

Che! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Che! features a workable if narrow DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track (the keepcase insert incorrectly lists a 2.0 track) that more than adequately supports the film's often risible dialogue, as well as the many sound effects (courtesy of battle scenes) and Lalo Schifrin's percussive score. Some of the foley effects sound slightly thin at times, but there's appealing midrange that helps to bolster noisier moments. There is no damage of any kind to report.

Che! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Vintage Featurette (480p; 6:14) has some interesting on location footage as well as the temerity to title itself "Why Che?" Indeed.


• TV Spot (480p; 00:21) starts with a screen full of widely varying descriptions of Che, which may cause some cynics to cry out, "Pick one! Any one!"


• Theatrical Trailer (480p; 3:16)


• Isolated Score Track presents Lalo Schifrin's music via DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Che! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a feeling that noble intentions went seriously haywire in Che!. Certainly a writer with Wilson's political sensibilities should have been able to fashion a compelling drama out of Guevara's fascinating life, but Che! simply marauds through its laundry list of "greatest hits" (and/or battles) without ever really peeking beneath the surface of what was going on. As a curio of "old Hollywood" slowly (or maybe not so slowly) swirling down the drain, Che! remains a potent example of talented people simply attempting the wrong project. Technical merits here are generally strong, for those considering a purchase.