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Plot Summary
In 1960, Cuban photographer Alberto "Korda" Diaz snapped a photo of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Eight years later, the image exploded throughout Europe and Latin America, when it became the symbol of protest and dissent. Today, the photograph remains one of the most dominant icons of the twentieth century. Chevolution is a film about a single photograph, and how this portrait with its enigmatic gaze became a symbol of countless visions for change.
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
80%- Reviews Counted: 15
- Fresh: 12
- Rotten: 3
- Average Rating: 6.1/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: The pic comes off as too scattershot to do anything but skim the questions it raises about the nature of the image as spiritual beacon and corporate logo.
Fresh: A tight, energetic documentary.
Fresh: Zippy enough, if a little meandering, and spends equal time on the man and the myth.
Fresh: Film-makers Trisha Ziff and Luis Lopez ask how and why the wisdom of the crowd decided that this image should not merely be a badge of youth radicalism, but an icon of purity.
Customer Reviews
When did glorification of a mass murderer become cool?
As I watched this film, I kept waiting and waiting for even a little truth. It didn't happen. It was a re-writing of history from beginning to end. One might expect a counter-argument stating that this is a matter of one's perspective. Not so. Che's personal diaries are available for all to read. In them, he is crystal clear about who he was and what he believed. Perspective is a function of an observer. Che's diaries are as "First Person" as it gets. It is hilarious to see the producers of this fictional tale use Che Guevara as a symbol of protest and dissent. Under Che, protest and dissent was what you did to deserve your summary execution. That's how he got the nickname "The Butcher of La Cabaña". Don't believe it? Here's what he wrote about it:
“To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.” – Che Guevara
He wrote in a letter to his wife: "Here in the Cuban Jungle, alive and bloodthirsty." The prison at La Cabaña was reserved for political prisoners (the "protest and dissent" crowd). Che held executions Monday through Friday because business was booming. All in all, 14000 men and boys were executed for their protest and dissent, or being suspected of protest and dissent. The standing rule was, in Che's words, "If in doubt, kill him." Boys as young as 14 were OK to be executed if they were suspected of wanting evil things like free speech, a free press, or rock music.
Yet none of this made it's way into Chevolution. Why? I guess it doesn't sell many t-shirts. I saw Jay-Z on MTV wearing a Che Guevara shirt. That's weird, because though it isn't in this movie, Che was quite the racist. Unless the movie's producers have a different perspective of Che's own words:
"The blacks, those magnificent examples of the African race who have conserved their racial purity by a lack of affinity with washing, have seen their patch invaded by a different kind of slave: The Portugese.... the black is indolent and fanciful, he spends his money on frivolity and drink; the European comes from a tradition of working and saving which follows him to this corner of America and drives him to get ahead."
So, that's what a revolutionary sounds like? Che hadn't been in cuba two years before he set up his first (of many) concentration camp in Guanahacabibes. Though it wasn't important enough to make it into this movie, Che was very selective regarding who got to live in the camps. So if you weren't one of those protesters/dissenters, a homosexual, an AIDS victim, Catholic, an Afro-Cuban priest, or similar such scum, you were just flying stand-by.
If watching this movie makes you want to get an awesome Che Guevara T-shirt, don't get one like everybody else's. Be a revolutionary and put one of Che's quotes on the back of it. Here's a perfect one that makes that "enigmatic gaze" on the front much more easily understood: “Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine. This is what our soldiers must become … ” – Che Guevara, a cold-blooded killing machine.
What an Image can do!
To SMARTACVS:
You totally missed the point of the film. This film is not about who Che Guevara was, it is about the iconic image of him and how that image has become protest and "cool to be rebellious" Yes Che was not a peace bringer, he was a hard-core revolutionist. What this film does is beautifully deconstructs the imagery of Che and tells a history of the photographers who captured them and how countries around the world (mainly the US) have interpreted it as their own. Mainly looking at the portrait of Che, "Guerrillero Heroico". The best part about this film was I now know what Che is actually staring at in the famous image. I can't look at that image the same any more. A great watch.
Unreal
I agree with SMARTACVS about this sick killer machine , if u people like his "hero" , you should like Hitler, Mussolini , Hussein or someone with that kind of background , I have a suggestion to all of those , why don't u guys move to Cuba or Venezuela become a citizen and support Fidel or Hugo Chavez , don't forget to wear a t-shirt with killer 's face
Remember that the cubans rather to jump in those waters full of sharks and swim for freedom or die trying , that stay one more day with that so call revolution of Che-Fidel-Chavez
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