Sometimes a movie comes with so much excessive praise weight that I wish I could've tackled it by itself, without knowing anything about it.
I say this because this average, run-of-the-mill movie about the young years of Ernesto "Che" Guevara was sold to me as the eighth wonder of the World, and it doesn't come even close. Based on Guevara's diaries relating his journey with his close friend Alberto through South America, it focuses specifically on Guevara's acknowledgement of political problems and lack of justice. However, it's far from being a political movie, and it works better as a genre piece, a combination of "buddy" and "road" movie with a real background. Of course, the latter half of the story focuses more extensively on Guevara and not on his buddy, and attempts to show the inner transformation on his soul. It's not bad, it's just too cliché to seem really important.
So, does it work as a genre piece? For most of the time, kind of. It's always entertaining enough to keep you on your seat waiting for something better to happen. Unfortunately, nothing really groundbreaking or important happens. The movie follows its formulaic route until an ending which cleverly cuts from the movie Alberto to the real Alberto, who is still alive and living in the same place where the movie ends and supposedly still has fond memories of Ernesto.
So, a big, fat "meh". Maybe it didn't work for me because I've never been part of the people that worship "Che" Guevara, despite respecting him quite a bit. But good historical movies concern you with the characters, even if you don't really have a well-formed appreciation for them. This one, perhaps because it favored traditional and safe storytelling too much, fell flat on that regard.
I say this because this average, run-of-the-mill movie about the young years of Ernesto "Che" Guevara was sold to me as the eighth wonder of the World, and it doesn't come even close. Based on Guevara's diaries relating his journey with his close friend Alberto through South America, it focuses specifically on Guevara's acknowledgement of political problems and lack of justice. However, it's far from being a political movie, and it works better as a genre piece, a combination of "buddy" and "road" movie with a real background. Of course, the latter half of the story focuses more extensively on Guevara and not on his buddy, and attempts to show the inner transformation on his soul. It's not bad, it's just too cliché to seem really important.
So, does it work as a genre piece? For most of the time, kind of. It's always entertaining enough to keep you on your seat waiting for something better to happen. Unfortunately, nothing really groundbreaking or important happens. The movie follows its formulaic route until an ending which cleverly cuts from the movie Alberto to the real Alberto, who is still alive and living in the same place where the movie ends and supposedly still has fond memories of Ernesto.
So, a big, fat "meh". Maybe it didn't work for me because I've never been part of the people that worship "Che" Guevara, despite respecting him quite a bit. But good historical movies concern you with the characters, even if you don't really have a well-formed appreciation for them. This one, perhaps because it favored traditional and safe storytelling too much, fell flat on that regard.