Indiewire has a fantastic interview with “Che” director Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker they call very appropriately, a “one-man cinematic insurrection.”
We just finished reading the June ’06 draft of “The Argentine” and it’s remarkable how different it is. Almost the first 3/4 is very different and all of the black-and-white addresses to the United Nations are absent. Plus the Peter Buchman-penned screenplay is kind of littered with the cliches that are in very short supply in the final film version. Perhaps this is the version of the script that Soderbergh hadn’t a chance to put his own touch on. Soderbergh talked to Indiewire about the screenplay and many, many other elements of the sprawling and ambitious achievement.
“We had one screenplay that had four timelines and was kind of unreadable and you couldn’t go into any kind of depth. It felt like a coming attraction to a bigger film. So my decision at that point was instead of eliminating the storylines, let’s cut it in half and expand. I felt like we’re not doing justice to Bolivia; we’re not doing justice to Cuba. And once we said that, the problems became more manageable. Luckily, the people that we already did deals with were happy to renegotiate for two films instead of one. We didn’t get a lot of resistance.”
Both films have to separate looks. The optimistic Part 1, is bright and soaked with the sunstroked hues of Cuba. Guevara’s demise in “Guerilla” is appropriately colder with many contours of blue and frigid green.
“The two parts mimic the voice of the two diaries that they’re based on. The Cuban reminiscences were obviously written after the fact, with a certain hindsight and perspective and a tone that comes from being victorious. So I wanted the style of the movie to reflect that. Nobody is in the dark about the result of the Cuban revolution. In the case of Bolivia, the diaries were contemporaneous, and they’re very isolated and have no perspective, at all. It’s a much more tense read, because the outcome is totally unclear. So the style and vibe is much more forbidding. The colors are not very vibrant; the framing isn’t as clean. I was thinking about early William Friedkin stuff.”
They also have a clip from the film. The scene is from the Cuban campaign in “The Argentine” that features Benicio Del Toro and Catalina Sandino Moreno’s character Aleida March as she pulls off a risky move to spot a sniper that’s been holding down Che’s rebels for hours and knocking them off one by one in the city of in Santa Clara (March would later become Guevara’s second wife).
It’s a very long and immersing interview and you should read it all as it really explains Soderbergh’s unconventional approach to the film. It’s a testament to Benicio Del Toro’s inner performance that its so soulful and simpatico and yet he rarely has any close-ups nor does the film ever really deliver any large and typical emotional catharsis.
BTW, a lot of outlets are calling the most recent trailer a Part Two “Guerilla” specific one for some reason, but that’s not the case. The most recent trailer says “Che” and features footage from both films.
