Variety's Todd McCarthy has weighed in on Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che Guevara epic, The Argentine and Guerrilla, which was shown at Cannes as one massive four-hour and 18-minute movie with an intermission.
Unfortunately, his reaction was not good. "The demanding running time forces a comparison to such rare works as Lawrence of Arabia, Reds and other bio-historical epics. Unfortunately, Che doesn't feel epic - just long."
Meanwhile, Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells is calling Che "brilliant" and "incandescent - a piece of full-on realism about the making of the Cuban revolution that I found utterly believable and politically vibrant and searing."
Sounds like critics are going to be as divided on this one as they were on The Motorcycle Diaries, which I panned a couple of years ago (you can read it here: Download diaries.doc ) and got e-mails like this in response (yes, I save all my funny hate mail):
Sent: Fri 10/8/2004 2:50 PM
To: Rodriguez, Rene
Cc:
Subject: The Motorcycle Diaries
Hey stupid, you were supposed to write a movie review for the Miami Herald not an op-ed piece for Radio Mambi.
Did you notice that all the other reviewers linked to this piece hailed this movie as a masterpiece.
You're probably going to write back and call me a communist but I'm just tired of the rightwing Cuban pandering some of the reporter's at the Herald embrace.
So maybe you're not stupid that'll all depend on how you respond to this.
Lawtonfoundation.com
Posted by: Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet | May 22, 2008 at 09:40 AM
Rene: Why is their a bias against Cuban-Americans?
Can you imagine a pro-david duke movie making it to cannes? what would be the response???
Also can you imgaine a pro-pinochet film a cannes??? pinochet killed a fraction of the people che and fidel killed...and he was being tried....
Che is a coward...."I am worth more alive than dead"....
Its saddening to see elities embrace che and fidel but bash President Bush....
hollywood loves che and fidel...the two biggest murderers in the western hemisphere....
Posted by: Free Dr. Biscet | May 22, 2008 at 09:45 AM