I wanted to but couldn't!

Admirable film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

CHE: PART ONE is an enjoyable history lesson detailing the rise and rise of Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara, following his early years as he hooks up with brothers Raul and Fidel Castro and sets about engaging in a guerrilla warfare in Cuba. The direction by Steven Soderbergh is understated, the director preferring to have this feel almost like a documentary, following the rebels on their path to success.The raw, cinema verite style is this story's strongest asset, that and the fact that Benedicio del Toro feels like he was born to play the role. Despite the lengthy running time, the story holds the attention, and the frequent battle scenes are very well handled and believable. The only part I didn't like was the constant cutting away to dull, black and white scenes of exposition with Guevara being interviewed in later years; they should have let the straightforward storytelling speak for itself.

This first part of Ernesto Guevara biopic can be watched on its own. In fact, having watched also the second part, I must confess I had rather stopped with the first installment.Ernesto Guevara led a very intense and adventurous life. There is an excellent film about his formative years (The motorcycle diaries) which details how Guevara got to know about the miseries of the South American continent and decided to do something to re-dress the injustice.In this movie we lack any information about the idealistic background that moved Guevara. The style is very documentary-like and detached. In fact, even too detached. The main part of film is in colour, showing Guevara reaching Cuba in 1956 with Fidel Castro and the other revolutionaries and fighting their way to Havana. Also in colour is a short flashback in Mexico, with Guevara and Castro meeting the first time.Interspersed in the movie are grainy, black & white scenes about Guevara 1964 trip to the UN. These scenes are very annoying for those who watch the film in the original version (in Spanish), and understand both English and Spanish. Guevara is interviewed in English, all questions are translated in English and he answers in Spanish, making the whole process unbearably dull.Sadly, also the long guerrilla part of the movie is equally unexciting. Obviously, even guerrilla fighters must have some dull moments in their life, but here it looks like they have nothing else. Given the documentary-style, we are shown countless scenes of the long march through the island, the most (and only) dramatic moment being the taking of Santa Clara.Considering the events depicted the major political overturning and the years of fighting spent by Guevara and his companions, the result is sorely lacking drama and tension. Benicio Del Toro does a good job, playing the part without any fanatic idealism, but rather with a human, melancholic side. Unfortunately he is not enough to make the movie raise from fake documentary into compelling biopic Disappointing.P.S. big mistake morphing what is perhaps the most famous photo of Guevara into a quasi-resemblance with Del Toro...

Che: Part One is a phenomenal movie about the revolutionary beginnings of the Argentine Ernesto Guevara in the island of Cuba. Steven Soderbergh does a fabulous job of directing this film in such a distinct and entertaining way, intertwining politics, war, and personal experiences. The movie goes from black and white scenes of Che being interviewed and attending United Nations meetings in the United States, to color scenes of Che with his revolutionary army in the jungles of Cuba, where they were fighting. The way these scenes are knitted together is truly remarkable and worthy of acknowledgement. Moreover, the movie is rich in its historical value as well as being easy to engage with through its telling of the personal story and experience of the main character, Ernesto Guevara. It is extremely hard to finish the movie without appreciating the character of Che and all the good qualities he displays throughout. Although I went into the movie with a preexisting position about the revolutionary, the film certainly caused me to be fond of him more and not judge him as I used to.

To tell the truth, I was excited about the prospects of a Che movie, in this day & age I'd say that it's needed. Che certainly has a stigma behind him that the close minded among us like to tout the loudest, "he's a communist, he's a monster," so it was nice to be able to walk into a film about Che that I knew was not going to damn him with a strong political agenda.And I am a historian, I'll sit through long drawn out trash just to see Rome on the big screen. I've studied Che, don't worry, I understand it's Hollywood, I don't judge a movie based on how historically accurate it is or isn't, I don't necessarily even want to see a film that sacrifices entertainment for accuracy. I often have dull & boring as a product of my profession.That being said, I'd like to know, historically, how someone could make a movie about Che that's, well, boring. Not even the history books about the man managed to make him this boring. He was like a Latino Ethan Hunt, a master of disguise, highly skilled in the dark arts of espionage, he was the man that literally wrote the book on guerrilla warfare, & that's not here at all, at least not in any entertaining way.See this film to change your global views, not to be entertained. From what I know about Che, I was expecting...I don't know...something more James Bond & less, well, less dull.