User Reviews

This is a documentary that retraces the steps of Ernesto Che Chuevara's 1967 attempt to "liberate" Boliva. The documentary is based on his diary, which apparently was published right before this came out. Not knowing much about Chevara, I found this documentary interesting, but slow moving. It basically goes over the exact movements Che and his soldiers made during their time in Boliva. There are various interviews with people from the Bolivian countryside who claim to have had contact with Che along the way. A male narrator reads from Che's diary as we walk in Che's steps. A female narrator provides other necessary information. Che's prose is interesting: It's very careful, diliberate, and, to me, almost Walt Whitmanesque. Perhaps it was just the way the male narrator (whose slow ennunciation of every word began to annoy me) read the diary, but I find Che's prose sometimes makes the concept of "revolution" seem a lot safer, cleaner, and easier than I'm sure it was. Camping in the Bolivian countryside for a year cannot have been all that pleasant. And, Che's whole idea of traveling to Boliva to take this action is somewhat odd to me. It's like, "Gee, let's pick an "oppressed" country and go have fun stirring up a revolution there." It romanticizes revolution in a way that I am not so sure is healthy. But who I am to say? Perhaps if it was 1967 and I was in Che's shoes, I would have taken the same actions as him.

As a lover of diary-based history, I would like to have given this a higher score. The film maker went to great expense to travel with a full crew to Bolivia into the valleys, isolated villages and primitive camp grounds used by the guerrillas in their flight from the Bolivian army. Villagers and farmers who were eye-witnesses to the months-long chase and eventual capture of Guevara and his men described what they saw at great length and with obvious emotion. Yet not ONE WORD, not a single phrase of their valuable stories was translated. Guevara's diary, the Bolvian headlines, radio reports - all were translated. But none of the eye-witnesses were given the respect of an interpreter. A real shame. A well-executed film completely gutted of effectiveness for lack of the cost of simple translation.