Che: Part One

"Everyone knows the icon. Few know the man."

2008 2h 14m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🍅

67%

FRESH

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 858🍅67%Rotten Tomatoes★7.1IMDB · 49,140

DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

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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.

“Everyone knows the icon. Few know the man.”

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Cast

Benicio del Toro
Ernesto Che Guevara
Demián Bichir
Fidel Castro
Santiago Cabrera
Camilo Cienfuegos
Vladimir Cruz
Ramiro Valdés Menéndez
Alfredo de Quesada
Israel Pardo
Jsu Garcia
Jorge Sotus
Kahlil Méndez
Leonardo Tamayo Núñez
Elvira Mínguez
Celia Sánchez

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Peter Buchman
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America, Spain, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $58M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 18 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Spain, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Che Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

358+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, shot by Steven Soderbergh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alberto Iglesias. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Steven Soderbergh directs. Steven Soderbergh behind the camera. Alberto Iglesias scores. Pablo Zumárraga cuts. Produced in United States of America, Spain, France. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $58M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 18 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4International production across 3 countries: United States of America, Spain, France.
5Part of the "Che Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6358+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
7Directed by Steven Soderbergh, shot by Steven Soderbergh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
8Original score by Alberto Iglesias. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
9Editor Pablo Zumárraga shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
10Benicio del Toro and Demián Bichir and Santiago Cabrera carry the top of the cast.
11Marketing tagline: "Everyone knows the icon. Few know the man.".
12IMDB entry: tt0892255 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
13Classified under 8 themes, including "hero", "central intelligence agency (cia)", "cuba", "biography".
14Released under 25 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Steven Soderbergh
Original score: Alberto Iglesias
Editing: Pablo Zumárraga
Production design: Antxón Gómez
Costume design: Bina Daigeler
Makeup / hair: Katherine James
VFX supervisor: Rafa Solórzano
Sound: Larry Blake
Stunt coordinator: Jordi Casares
Runtime: 134 min · 2h 14m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $58,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Che: Part One (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 49,140 votes
MPAA: Not Rated
US box office: $748,555

Awards

4 wins & 13 nominations total

Part of

Che Collection

Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline. Part One is entitled The Argentine and focuses on the Cuban Revolution from the landing of Fidel Castro, Guevara, and other revolutionaries in Cuba to their successful toppling of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship two years later. Part Two is entitled Guerrilla and focuses on Guevara's attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia and his demise.

Also by

Steven Soderbergh

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-04-25
★ 7/10
This first stage of Steven Soderbergh's biopic of the life of the Argentinian revolutionary Ernest Guevara begins with his arrival on the island of Cuba and follows his increasingly effective leadership of the revolution against the government of President Batista. That old adage about one man's terrorist being another's freedom fighter is well exemplified here with us left in no doubt by the director and writer of the merits of the Guevara cause. That writing isn't actually up to very much, nor is much of the acting but the documentary style of story-building and photography does work really well illustrating the extent of the poverty in which the subsistence population survived, hand to mouth and day to day. Benicio Del Toro takes the title role and when he reunites with Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) and brother Raúl (Rodrigo Santoro) he is soon an integral part of the command and control structure of the communist insurgency that intends to remove the pro-US government. It's Castro's increasing alignment with the Soviet Union that earns the the chagrin of their nearest neighbours and much of the drama here sees all of them crawling through the jungle wary of all they meet while their increasing number of troops and weaponry, coupled with increasing dis-satisfaction amongst the government troops, gives them a chance of success. It's history, and the fact that there's a part two doesn't leave a lot of room for jeopardy, but Soderbergh doesn't shy away from the uncertainty and brutality of the conflict and the hostility of their island environment. The location photography does work well but it sacrifices the sound mix to achieve that - there is a lot of mumbling going on here. This characterisation presents us with a man of some vision who believed in the principles of communal ownership and universal education, and is worth a watch.

Production companies