Product Details

• Actors: Che Guevara
• Directors: Clark Green
• Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Kultur White Star
• DVD Release Date: April 29, 2008
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• ASIN: B0013N3LHM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,414 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Review
This story of Castro's Cuba is literally a tale of two Cubans: the haves, and the have-nots. To the have-nots, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara remain heroes, because for the average Cuban, health care, education, and housing have improved dramatically.. To the haves, who now live in exile, Castro and Guevara are the men who killed their grandfathers and fathers and who took their family estates and factories. They're petty thieves, and nothing more.

Though it's subtle, this 1999 documentary comes at it from the point of view of the have-nots, because it reveres the revolutionary reader rather than disparaging his accomplishments. We're reminded of what a driving force Guevara was in Castro's revolutionary organization. Recruited because he was a doctor and Castro needed a physician for his second attempted coup, Guevara quickly rose to the rank of Commander. Once Batista was driven from the island, it was Guevara who established broadcast and print communication systems to educate the public to the revolution, and it was Guevara who was appointed supreme prosecutor and presided over the execution of hundreds of 'traitors' by firing squad. Guevara formed the Cuban Secret Service, and was appointed president of the National Bank of Cuba. He founded a massive literacy campaign and devised a plan for agrarian reform which would redistribute land to the peasants

This 60-minute documentary drives home what a driving force Che Guevara was in Castro's revolution. What's more, we're treated to a constant stream of vintage photos and movie footage, starting with his baby and childhood pictures growing up in a privileged family in Argentina, and ending with graphic movies showing his corpse after he was gunned down in Bolivia on October 9, 1967 at the age of 39. There's fantastic footage of a very young Castro leaving prison after his first attempt to oust Batista, and footage of Guevara training Castro's revolutionaries in the field. We see a cigar-chomping Guevara during the revolution, with Castro, with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, and even with Cuban exiles shouting angrily at him as he visits New York City before the U.S. embargo and strained relations. And yes, we see several graphic executions.

Director Clark Green offers a detail- and photo-rich documentary that celebrates Guevara as an idealistic revolutionary whose famous motorcycle trip across Latin America was preceded by a bicycle trip--both of which showed him up close and personal the capitalist octopuses that made multinational corporations rich while making the people poor. Enhancing the film is an intelligent and streamlined narrative that smoothly takes us from one stage to the next, relying heavily on entries from Guevara's own journal that are read as voiceovers. This film shows us many more shots of a man who has come to be the face of revolution, not just in Cuba, but worldwide.

Presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio and mostly black and white, 'Che Guevara: Hasta la Victoria Siempre' uses so many vintage film clips that you'd have to say the overall quality is as good as those clips. But let's face it. These clips are precious, and some allowance has to be made. They show their age and the crude stock that they were filmed with, but despite the graininess I never felt as if I was watching anything less than a high-quality production.

As biographies go, this one is so rich in archival footage that you can't help but marvel in almost every sequence. The filmmakers really dug deep to find these audio-visual treasures. 'Che Guevara: Hasta la Victoria Siempre' provides a great overview of a life that has inspired millions. It should be required viewing for any young person who thinks it's cool to wear a Che Guevara t-shirt. --DVDTown, James Plath

Product Description
This documentary, featuring extensive historic footage, tells the story of one of the 20th Century s most controversial, yet charismatic icons, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known as Che Guevara.

A true revolutionary who traveled throughout Latin America observing impoverished conditions of the people, stood side-by-side with Fidel Castro in Cuba, and formed revolutions in the Congo and Bolivia (where he was executed).