Che

In the 2008 film Che, historically, Ernesto Guevara and Fidel Castro meet in Mexico, in July of 1955. In a private meeting enjoying the balcony air, Ernesto agrees to aid Fidel overthrow the Batista regime. Even though he agrees to join him, Guevara calls him a little crazy. But Ernesto has conditions, that Fidel helps him bring the revolution to Latin American countries. Fidel equally retorts that Che is a little crazy too. A few months later, Guevara sails on a yacht called the “Granma,” heading toward Cuba from Mexico. Had this meeting not occurred that night in Mexico, Guevara would have perhaps never become a Cuban citizen. But before that, he was one of the revolutionaries that brought the political and economical change that inundated the streets of Cuba.

It all began in Mexico. This time for Che, is similar to the silence before a storm. It is a different Guevara than before as a medical student and what he will become- a martyred revolutionary. His biographer describes Che during this time as “disengaged” (Zolov 9). He left Guatemala after a failed attempt for a Guatemalan revolution. Roots for his hatred of American imperialism were stemmed from his experience there. It is there he discovers the “connection between U. S. imperialism and reactionary politics” (Zolov 5). The Guatemalan president, Arbenz, faced the threat of a U.S. invasion, but American leaders explained his resignation as another victory over Communism (Zolov 6). Subsequently, Nixon toured Mexico to increase Latin American sentiment of the U.S. (Zolov 7).  Mexico was now an American ally and an “outlet for U.S. capital,” contradicting the revolutionary ideology that condemned foreign involvement partly responsible for the Mexican revolution just a few decades ago.

This growing anti-U.S. sentiment along with marital discontent led Che to join the revolutionary effort proposed by Fidel Castro. Part one of the Che film focuses on Che’s life as a guerilla fighter. The audience sees him struggle with asthma attacks yet sneak through the jungle and streets of Cuba. He credits victory to the efforts of everyone, not solely him. He believed guerrilla warfare was a people’s warfare so the revolution came from the people.

By the time Cuba is liberated from Batista, Che had fully developed thoughts on the American imperialism. In his message to the Tricontinental, he expresses the consequences of American imperialism in North and South Korea and Vietnam. His final judgment was that U.S. imperialism was “guilty of aggression” whose “crimes are enormous and cover the whole world.” His solution: a socialist revolution in the countries that the U.S. extracts resources from, and not just any socialist revolution. To Che, the only effective political change could be brought about only through a violent revolution led by people capable of emancipating those who could not emancipate themselves (Drinot 14). El Che died in 1967, bringing revolution to those who could not emancipate themselves.