CHE:  Beyond The T-Shirt

Q&A with Benicio Del Toro on playing Che Guevara in the new Hollywood bio-pic

By D. Painter

We all know the image.  T-Shirts, posters, jacket patches, and street murals have all paid homage to the legendary Revolutionary but many still don’t know his name, let alone the man behind the myth.  His story is that of folk lore and has transcended to the heights of pop culture.  For the past 5+ years there’s been considerable buzz around the in production, out of production, back in production movie documenting the life of Ernesto “Che” Guevara.  Starring Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro (Best Supporting Actor Traffic), the movie shows how the Argentinean twenty-something-year-old doctor met Fidel Castro, orchestrated the Cuban Revolution to over throw the Batista regime (1956-1958), and went on to take on further efforts to free poor people from imperialism in the African Congo and Bolivia (where he ultimately was killed).

Che is directed by the Independent Film GOD Stephen Soderbergh (Sex, Lies & Videotape) who went on to conquer Hollywood (Oceans 11-13, Out Of Sight, Erin Brockovich) and is now tackling his first epic film.  Despite earning Del Toro the top acting honor at 2008’s Cannes Film Festival, the talk about Che turned down hill after the showing due to rumors of it being too long (4 hours in total) and a distribution nightmare (films need to be 2hrs or less in order to show enough times a day per theater to turn a profit).  Well, it’s finally here and it’s being split into 2 films, The Argentine (about his years fighting in Cuba) and Guerilla (documenting his final year fighting in Bolivia), but prior to its release, HipsterOverkill.com got to view the 4 hour version and take part in a Q&A session with Benicio and producer Laura Bickford.

the real Che & Benicio Del Toro

Question:  How did you get into the role of Che Guevara?

Benicio: I started off by reading his writings [including Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War and The Bolivian Diary which the screenplay was based on], not the writing of others.  When you read his words you get to know him better and It allowed me to come up with my own interpretation of him.  What you see up there is Benicio’s interpretation of Che.

Laura: The great thing about doing a film about the Cuban Revolution is that, unlike the American Revolution or French Revolution, many of the people who were there are still alive.  We spoke to people who fought beside and worked with Che who now live in Cuba, Bolivia, and Miami.

Q:  Why did the film only show the guerilla’s side of the war in Cuba as opposed to showing more of what Batista was doing to provoke the revolution?

B: We were trying to show Che’s experience and what the revolutionaries went through.  We alluded to what Batista was doing by showing the Police Sergeant shoot his own man, the dead peasants, and the bombings.

Q:  The first film focuses on Cuba and the second film picks up when Che disappeared only to be found in Bolivia attempting to orchestrate their revolution.  What was the reason for glossing over his work in the Congo?

B: we originally discussed showing the Congo but that would have needed more money to film.

L: The Congo was a failure, but so was Bolivia.  To show both would have been to duplicate and we didn’t want to do that.  We decided to pick two pieces of his life and show them to their full extent.  We felt we accomplished this by showing Cuba and Bolivia.  We also showed his visit to the U.N. in New York, which we call his Rock Star years, to show what he had become on the world stage.  We did mention the Congo but it didn’t serve us to go further into it.

*foot note:  In 1965 Guevara took a handful of Cuban soldiers to the Congo with the intent of teaching guerilla fighting techniques and Marxist philosophy to the revolutionaries caught up in the Congo Crisis.  After nearly a year of failures, Che sent his men home and was ultimately ordered back to Cuba by Fidel Castro.

Q: What has the Cuban response been to the film?

B: We got to show the movie at the Cuban Film Festival which was amazing.  People were very excited by the movie and praised it.

L: We did get to take it there which took a lot of talking to U.S. government officials and Cuban officials.  A lot of talking had to happen on both sides to make it happen.

Q: Did you ever get scared that you wouldn’t be able to get distribution for a 4 hour film?

L: After we started [laugh].  Maybe we should have thought of it before we started.  After Cannes, 4 distributors dropped out.  The distribution industry is currently changing and we’re the first to try a new strategy, hopefully we’re not too early with it.  Starting today, we’re releasing the movie for rent on home On-Demand at the same time we’re releasing the 2 part movie in theaters.  I know that it’s often easier to watch things at home, especially with a 4 hour movie, but I love the experience of watching something in the theater on the big screen.  We’re giving people both options simultaneously and hope that this can be a new model for film releases.

Q: How do you think Che would feel about being a pop icon and having his picture on so many T-shirts?

B:  I don’t think he’d really care about the T-Shirts, I think he’d be like, “There’s work to be done.”  He’d continue to focus on his philosophy and work for the people.

Check out Che pt 1: The Argentine & Che pt 2: Guerilla released nationwide starting January 24, 2009.

and view the trailer below:

For more insight into the life and philosophy of Ernesto “Che” Guevara we recommend reading:

-          Guerilla Warfare by Ernesto Guevara

-          Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War by Ernesto Guavera

-          The Bolivian Diary by Ernesto Guavera

-          The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo by Ernesto Guavara

Or watch:

-          The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) starring Gael Garcia Bernal based on the book The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto Guevara