"Unmistakably to its plinth"
Steven Soderbergh's Che "begins with a pair of boots. More than four hours later, that is pretty much how it ends, too. The first boots belong to Che Guevara (Benicio Del Toro), who is wearing them, together with his trademark combat fatigues, while being interviewed in Havana, in 1964. He wears the same outfit later that year, in New York, as a way of indicating, to the United Nations and to any bien-pensants who can gaze at him without drooling, that even in this city of chatter he remains an undaunted man of action.
"The second pair of boots, by contrast, is the last thing he sees, as he dies on the floor of a Bolivian hut; they belong to the officer who has come to check that Che, caught and shot, has finally given up his troublesome ghost. The visual echo is a fitting one, since, whatever the private impulses that fired this work, there is no doubting Soderbergh's desire to shoot at ground level -- not to linger on the loftiness of political ideals but, instead, to get down amid the dirt, sweat, and despair of putting them into practice." -- from Anthony Lane's New Yorker review, dated 1.19.09.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on January 12, 2009 at 6:17 PM
comment #1
BurmaShave
says ...
I'm so glad DC is getting the roadshow. I'm afraid to say I watched Part I online, but I look forward to getting the whole thing. And yeah, I've really changed my tune on this movie.
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 12, 2009 7:06 PM
comment #2
tommysunshine
says ...
Burma, you adding your own review on top of what Wells and Anthony Lane think about Che brings to mind Short Run clutching to Indiana Jones's coat-tails in Temple of Doom.
Posted by tommysunshine
at January 12, 2009 7:49 PM
comment #3
Sabina E
says ...
oh my god. I CANNOT wait to see CHE.
I was gonna read up on Che again, but my brother stole 2 of my books about Che... grrrr
Burma, when is it coming out in DC? I'm gonna be in DC next week I would love to see it
Posted by Sabina E
at January 12, 2009 8:06 PM
comment #4
BurmaShave
says ...
tommysunshine, what does that make you?
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 12, 2009 8:13 PM
comment #5
BurmaShave
says ...
DeafBrown, I think i read it opens here the 16th.
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 12, 2009 8:14 PM
comment #6
tommysunshine
says ...
Burma, it makes me someone who knows better than to bore everybody with my two-bob half-baked uninspiring musings on a film, only half of which I've seen on a laptop.
DeafBrownTrashPunk, perhaps you should meet up with Burma and watch the che four hour movie twice on inauguration day. That way two of the most unoriginal political thinkers of this age will be kept off the streets!
Sunshine humbly submits a request: please keep your thoughts on soderbergh's epic folly to yourselves.
Posted by tommysunshine
at January 12, 2009 8:20 PM
comment #7
BurmaShave
says ...
You're right sunshine, you're someone who bores everybody with your two-bob-half-baked musings on somebody else on a comment thread using a handle, which you do using another handle. I don't know what I ever did to get a rise out of you, but I've got no issue with you except that you're the Comic Book Guy and you think you're H.L. Mencken.
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 12, 2009 8:55 PM
comment #8
Overstreet
says ...
tommysunshine,
If you're going to bother to make snide remarks about other people's comments, at least check your facts. Nobody named Short Run ever clutched Indiana Jones' coat-tails.
Posted by Overstreet
at January 12, 2009 9:22 PM
comment #9
Josh Massey
says ...
Having just got back from the movies, let me break the tension with an off-topic opinion: Gran Torino sucked. I mean, just sucked. I can't believe it's getting any love whatsoever. And I say that as an Eastwood worshiper.
That is all.
Posted by Josh Massey
at January 12, 2009 10:23 PM
comment #10
luca
says ...
Che is the only movie of 2008 that deserves to be called great. And... Oh yeah tommysunshine sucks the big one.
Posted by luca
at January 12, 2009 10:29 PM
comment #11
frankbooth
says ...
George W. Bush is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.
Posted by frankbooth
at January 12, 2009 10:50 PM
comment #12
BurmaShave
says ...
Overstreet, there's no "if you're going to". It's tommy's raison d'etre.
DeafPunk, it seems that CHE is playing for one week (probably be extended like in NY) at the E Street Cinema here in DC. Hope you're coming for the inauguration, it's gonna be a weird crazy time.
Posted by BurmaShave
at January 12, 2009 11:04 PM
comment #13
YRG
says ...
As much as I complain about the lack of movies made for the over-30 crowd, I must admit that 2008 was a great year. Che is a great capstone to a year that included Synecdoche, New York, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire, and Gran Torino. Maybe I was too harsh in my critiques of some.
Posted by YRG
at January 12, 2009 11:38 PM
comment #14
swordandpen
says ...
tommysunshine, you bore everyone with your half-baked opinions regurgitated from conservative blogs and your pathetic attempts to pick fights with people here. If your goal was to be the HE village idiot, you're succeeding.
Posted by swordandpen
at January 13, 2009 3:59 AM
comment #15
CitizenKanedforChewingGum
says ...
Well, he's got some ground to pick up on D.Z. after all these years, but his defense of Bushie Jr. has him literally making strides in that department.
W is certainly going to need someone to transcribe (and let's be honest -- write) his memoirs when all is said and done. As someone as totally disillusioned with his legacy as the man himself, Tommy seems to be the perfect person for that job.
Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum
at January 13, 2009 6:06 AM
comment #16
PCP_Patriots
says ...
Like Mussolini and Ceucescu before him, Che got what he deserved.
Posted by PCP_Patriots
at January 13, 2009 7:23 AM
comment #17
Sabina E
says ...
Burma, yes, I will be at the inauguration, that's why I'm coming to DC (my sister lives there and offered me a place to stay with her).
thanks for the head-up on CHE, I'm going to see it next week :-)
TommySunshine, STFU already and go back sucking your closet boyfriend's dick.
Posted by Sabina E
at January 13, 2009 10:34 AM
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