Even with some critics bailing to catch the Champions League Final, the festival’s largest theatre still wasn’t big enough.
Journalists shoved and barged for seats, then shoved and barged for sitting space on the aisle steps (that would be LWLies), then stood at the back and squinted out at the screen.
Nearly five hours later, Steven Soderbergh’s Che faded to black. And Cannes 2008 was still left waiting for its first masterpiece.
But Sodey’s revolutionary double-bill – carved into The Argentine and Guerrilla – is unquestionably one of the best films so far: an ambitious, soulful, surprising saga that’s certainly no slog.
What we have here is less a biopic of a revolutionary than a chronicle of a revolution. Distant, passionate and wheezing from asthma, Benicio del Toro gives a supremely composed performance as Che – who remains a charismatic and enigmatic figure. Stripped of hyperbole and grandstanding, Soderbergh’s film leapfrogs huge chunks of his story, skipping his personal life and never boring into his psyche as it traces Che’s triumphant rebellion in Cuba and his disastrous attempt to pull the same trick in Bolivia. But, brilliantly shot using a new lightweight digital camera, this soulful drama unfolds with effortless melancholy, humour, intelligence and excitement. This portrait of the doctor/soldier/politician who became a T-shirt of the century is told through sad silences and impactful battle scenes – from the jungle to the streets to the political arena. It’s sure to fascinate and frustrate with equal measure.
Who knows if this four-and-a-half hour cut will make it to cinema release? Certainly, there are dips in direction and drive. Industry bible Variety is convinced it will be chopped to a three-hour one-shot saga. Luckily for LWLies, Che goodie-bags were handed out in the interval. Sandwiches, water and a Kit Kat never tasted so good.
