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At various times, Steven Soderbergh's ambitious Che Guevera project has been described as one very long picture and as two, and I'm not sure which is how it started and which is considered the definitive experience. To further muddy the waters, I saw "Che" as a single feature with an intermission, but it separates into two distinct (though connected) films in my mind. Part One is the weaker of the two, but it does set up themes that are important for the second.

The film opens (after a graphical lesson in Cuban geography) in 1964, with Ernesto "Che" Guevera (Benicio Del Toro) in New York to address the United Nations. The bulk of the time is spent in flashback, as we follow Guevera's first meetings with Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) in Mexico. From there, they go to Cuba, where Guevera first serves as the rebel army's medic before being placed in charge of a new column which advances 150 on foot from the mountains in the southeast to the central part of the island. We're introduced to many other members of Castro's army, including Aelida (Catalina Sandino Morena), a messenger who would eventually become Guevera's wife.

Aficionados of this segment of history and people with particular interest in Che Guevera will likely find this film intriguing, while the rest of us may find it very dry. The film probably doesn't spend as much time introducing us to various people - literally, often with the template of "I'm Che." "I'm Ramon." "How old are you?" "Twenty." - as I remember, but does so enough for the audience to notice the pattern. We can infer some purpose to it - noting that Guevera's stances on using teenagers and how his soldiers should be able to read and right weaken as time passes, maybe, although there's not much outward indication that the situation is becoming desperate. It comes across as Soderbergh and company wanting to touch upon as many figures from the Cuban Revolution as possible for completeness's sake. We are basically being told that these people are important historically, even though they don't obviously affect the film's narrative.

The film also has what feels like an overly-sympathetic view of its title character, at least at first glance. The film frequently takes great care to note that Che insists upon only engaging military targets, and the interview segments tend to present him at his very best, saying things like how love for the people is the most important trait for a revolutionary to have. Che's better qualities are so directly presented to us that it's very difficult to see his bad side, which must be inferred: There's a powerful ego to be seen in his advancing on the last offensive without waiting for the group his was supposed to meet, and how concerned he is about who will be allowed to speak from the podium and the floor. Perhaps the most telling scene is when he expresses relief that another physician has joined the cause, so he can shift his attention from saving lives to ending them. There are several moments like that in the film, but they must be hunted for, compared to the praise that is clear for all to see.

Benicio Del Toro mostly seems interested in playing the heroic Che, albeit in a fairly restrained manner. I will readily admit that I may be missing a lot in translation; his entire performance is in Spanish and there may be intonations I don't catch by concentrating on subtitles or the overlapping voice of Che's translator. Del Toro does get across the man's passion, and how uncomfortable he is during his trip to New York. The rest of the cast is good, although not a one of them manages to stand out as terribly memorable.

Soderbergh does manage to make a fairly impressive movie visually: For as much as this is the story of one man, the battle sequences are grand, filled with people and shot from interesting angles. The digital photography is sharp and clear, capturing the lush colors of the jungle beautifully. Scenes in New York, by contrast, are shot in grainy 16mm monochrome; the contrasting style is an often-used idea, but one that works well enough.

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Charlie's Tramp character finds himself at a circus where he is promptly gets chased around by the police who think he is a pickpocket. Running into the bigtop, he is an accidental sensation with his hilarious efforts to elude the police. The ringmaster/owner immediately hires him, but discovers the Tramp cannot be funny on purpose, so he takes advantage of the situation by making the Tramp a janitor just happens to always in the Bigtop at showtime. Unaware of this exploitation, the Tramp falls for the owner's lovely acrobatic daughter, who is abused by her father. His chances seem good, until a dashing rival comes in and Charlies feels he has to compete with him.

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LET THE WORLD CHANGE YOU AND YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.

In 1952, a semester before Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across the South American continent in search of fun and adventures. While there is a goal at the end of their journey - they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru - the main purpose is tourism. They want to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 8,000 miles in just a few months, and also bed as many Latin American women as will fall for their pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Alberto's ancient and leaky but functional Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa ("The Mighty One").

Their route is ambitious. They head south, aim to cross the Andes, travel along the coast of Chile, across the Atacama Desert and into the Peruvian Amazon and reach Venezuela just in time for Alberto's 30th birthday, April 2. Due to La Poderosa's breakdown, they are forced to travel at a much slower pace, and make it to Caracas in July.

During their expedition, Guevara and Granado encounter the poverty of the indigenous peasants, and the movie assumes a greater seriousness once the men gain a better sense of the disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots" of Latin America. In Chile, the pleasure travelers encounter a couple forced onto the road because of their communist beliefs. In a fire-lit scene, Ernesto and Alberto admit to the couple that they are not out looking for work as well. The duo accompany the couple to the Chuquicamata copper mine, and Guevara becomes angry at the treatment of the workers. There is also an instance of recognition when Ernesto, on a river ship, looks down at the poor people on the smaller boat hitched behind. Ernesto's connection to people in need is visceral and tactile throughout the film. It shows in the way he smoothes the forehead of a terminally ill woman who cannot afford a proper doctor.

However, it is a visit to the Incan ruins of Macchu Picchu that inspires something in Ernesto. He wonders how the highly advanced culture gave way to the urban sprawl of Lima. His reflection is interrupted by Alberto, who shares with him a dream to peacefully revolutionize modern South America. Ernesto quickly responds: "A revolution without guns? It will never work."

In Peru, they volunteer for three weeks at the San Pablo leper colony. There, Guevara sees both physically and metaphorically the division of society between the toiling masses and the ruling class (the staff live on the north side of a river, separated from the lepers living on the south). Guevara also refuses to wear rubber gloves during his visit choosing instead to shake bare hands with startled leper inmates.

At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends the arbitrary boundaries of nation and race. These encounters with social injustice transform the way Guevara sees the world, and by implication motivates his later political activities as a revolutionary.

Guevara makes his symbolic "final journey" that night when despite his asthma, he chooses to swim across the river that separates the two societies of the leper colony, to spend the night in a leper shack, instead of in the cabins of the doctors. This journey implicitly symbolizes Guevara's rejection of wealth and aristocracy into which he was born, and the path he would take later in his life as a guerrilla, fighting for what he believed was the dignity every human being deserves.

"Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me any more. At least I'm not the same me I was." ~ Guevara at film's end

As they bid each other farewell, Alberto reveals that his birthday was not in fact April 2, but rather August 8, and that the stated goal was simply a motivator: Ernesto replies that he knew all along. The film is closed with an appearance by the true life 82-year-old Alberto Granado, along with pictures from the actual journey and a mention of Che Guevara's eventual 1967 CIA-assisted execution in the Bolivian jungle.

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Three interconnected stories about the different strata of life in Mexico City all resolve with a fatal car accident. Octavio is trying to raise enough money to run away with his sister-in-law, and decides to enter his dog Cofi into the world of dogfighting. After a dogfight goes bad, Octavio flees in his car, running a red light and causing the accident. Daniel and Valeria's new-found bliss is prematurely ended when she loses her leg in the accident. El Chivo is a homeless man who cares for stray dogs and is there to witness the collision.

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Valkyrie opens with a Colonel Stauffenberg in Africa, penning in a journal his thoughts about World War II, and how he feels Hitler is destroying Germany. Stauffenberg states he took an oath to swear allegiance to Hitler, but feels he owes more to Germany. He argues with a general about holding a key city in a futile effort against the British Army and American General Patton. The general agrees to have the 10th Panzer moved to a different location where they can be evacuated back to mainland Europe. Shortly thereafter, the camp is attacked and Stauffenberg is badly injured, losing one of his eyes, his right hand, and two fingers from his left hand.The next scene shows Hitler visiting a base camp in Germany, and a nervous General Trescow onlooking. As Hitler prepares to depart, Trescow and an associate hide a bomb in a wine case and give to a man on Hitler's plane, but it fails to detonate in flight, and Trescow must return to headquarters to retrieve it. Once he arrives, he meets up with who is revealed as a fellow conspirator, a General Olbricht. Trescow safely retrieves the wine case and he and Olbrict discuss a member of their secret committee who was recently arrested. Trescow recommends Olbricht contact Colonel Stauffenberg as a replacement, which Olbricht does, and bring Stauffenberg to one of the clandestine meetings.In the meeting, Stauffenberg meets three of the most important figures in the resistance. A Dr. Goerdeler, who will become Chancellor of Germany should the plot succeed, a General Beck, who will lead the Armed Forces, and a man named Witzleben. After tempers flare, Stauffenberg agrees to help. At a later meeting, Stauffenberg suggests they utilize Operation Valkyrie, which is a plan that uses the Reserve Army to keep amongst the Germany country should anything disrupt communications from Hitler, or should Hitler be killed. Stauffenberg rewrites the order to exclude the SS from taking control, which would leave the head of the Reserve Army, General Fromm, in charge of Germany. Reaching out to General Fromm, Stauffenberg and Olbricht are surprised at his rejection, but Fromm keeps quiet, choosing to neither support the dissenters nor reports them to the authorities. Meanwhile, General Trescow is sent to the front lines. Stauffenberg is promoted to head of the plan, and he, along with his assistant Lieutenant Haeften, take the order to the Berghof to be signed off by Hitler himself. Hitler, with his inner circle present, praises Stauffenberg's loss of appendages as the attitude necessary for his military, and states Stauffenberg is the ideal German. He then signs off on the bill, saying he's sure the changes are adequate.Back at command, a Colonel Quirnheim shows the dissenters how to use pencil detonators, and Stauffenberg persuades a General Fellgiebel, who controls communications at the Wolf's Lair, to help. Stauffenberg has been promoted to General Fromm's chief-of-staff, and thus has access to Hitler's military debriefings, so the plan goes as follows: Stauffenberg and Haeften will travel to Hitler's bunker, the Wolf's Lair, to attend a military meeting. Stauffenberg will ignite one of the pencil detonators and then have Fellgiebel call and pretend to be a general, pulling Stauffenberg out of the meeting while Haeften waits with a car. In theory, Stauffenberg and Haeften will have six minutes to drive before the bomb detonates, giving them time to return to the airfield and fly off before they can be suspected. The only condition the heads of the dissenters give, however, is that head of the SS Himmler, along with Hitler, must be present for Stauffenberg to arm the bomb. Stauffenberg travels to the Wolf's Lair and has all preparations ready, but notices Himmler is not present at the meeting and calls the committee to ask if he may proceed anyways. He is refused by the committee, unbeknownst to Olbricht, who mobilizes the Reserve Army anyways. As Stauffenberg safely extracts himself and the bomb from the bunker, the Reserve Army believes they were just running a training drill, and Olbricht and Stauffenberg are ordered to report to General Fromm, who is outraged they would mobilize the army without his permission. He tells them that if this happens again he will arrest them both.Dr. Goerdeler has a warrant issued for his arrest and General Beck implores him to leave the country. Goerdeler, Stauffenberg's chief opponent on the committee, hastily leaves and is replaced by Colonel Quirnheim. Colonel Stauffenberg visits his home and tells his wife his plan, and that she and his children must leave, because of their suffering if he should fail, they do so, and Stauffenberg makes his next attempt on Hitler's life as he attends another military debriefing on July 20, 1944. Much to his surprise, the meeting has been moved from Hitler's bunker to an open window summer hut. The blast would be most effective in the pressurized bunker, where the thick walls would deflect the pressure back to the bomb's origin, wiping out everyone in the bunker. Stauffenberg plans to proceed anyways but then notices Himmler is once again not present. He calls the committee to ask permission to continue and they say no, but Stauffenberg and Quirnheim privately agree to continue anyways, and Stauffenberg enters the summer hut. He and Haeften arm the bomb in a washroom and place it under the war room table, as Haeften gets the car. Fellgiebel gives Stauffenberg his distraction call, and Stauffenberg hastily leaves the hut.In the war room, an enraged Hitler bangs his fist against the table, knocking Stauffenberg's briefcase, with armed bomb inside, over. A correspondent at the table sees Stauffenberg's fallen bag and moves it behind a table leg opposite Hitler. As Stauffenberg walks to his car, the bomb detonates. Fellgiebel phones Quirnheim, but poor reception keeps Quirnheim from fully understanding what all has happened, only hearing that the bomb has indeed detonated. Believing his job to be done, Fellgiebel orders them to shut off all communications. Olbricht impores Quirnheim to phone back and find is Hitler is dead, but the broken phone lines keep that from happening. Olbricht refuses to mobilize the Reserve Army until he has received confirmation that Hitler has indeed been killed, and leaves for lunch. Quirnheim issues the mobilization order behind Olbricht's back, and the Reserve Army, led by General Werner, mobilize in Berlin. Meanwhile, Stauffenberg, Haeften, and their driver quickly make their way out of the Wolf's Lair, and Stauffenberg cleverly tricks soldiers into opening checkpoints for him. He makes it back to the airfield, and quickly flies a plane back the government district of Berlin.Much to his shock, the delay caused by Olbricht issuing the order could substantially set the effort back, but they proceed with the plan as scheduled. They march to General Fromm's office and inform him that Hitler is dead, and that he can either join their cause or be arrested. Fromm calls the Wolf's Lair, whose communication has been restored, and hears that Hitler is, in fact, alive. Stauffenberg dismisses this and asks Fromm whose side he's on. Fromm attempts to arrest Stauffenberg and Olbricht but is, himself, arrested. Stauffenberg, Olbricht, and Beck, as heads of the Reserve Army under Operation Valkyrie, give orders to arrest all SS officers and seize control of Berlin. General Werner follows these requests until he reaches the SS headquarters in France. Contradicting orders have been sent, one from the Wolf's Lair ordering the arrest of Stauffenberg, and one from Stauffenberg ordering the arrest of Minister Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels, shown slipping a cyanide pill in his mouth as he watches the Reserve Army approach, picks up a phone and asks to be connected. Werner walks in and states the man is under arrest, but the man gives Werner the phone. Hitler is on the other line, and he commands Werner to release all SS and capture those in charge alive. Werner cancels the occupation of Berlin and marches to Stauffenberg.Rumors are swirling that Hitler is alive, which Stauffenberg dismisses as SS propaganda. But gradually, Stauffenberg's associates in headquarters are defecting. The Reserve Army reaches headquarters, and Stauffenberg, Haeften, Quirnheim, Olbricht, and Beck attempt to leave. All are captured, and General Fromm is released from his cell. Wanting to appear innocent, Fromm orders the immediate arrest of the conspirators. In his office, he condemns Stauffenberg, Quirnheim, Olbricht, Haeften, and Beck to death, but allows Beck to kill himself with a pistol.The remaining four are taken outside and simultaneously executed by firing squad. Meanwhile, General Trescow, hearing of the failure, is shown committing suicide on the front lines with a grenade. Goerdeler is shown executed by hanging, and eventually Stauffenberg is brought before the firing squad. Quirnheim and Olbricht have already been executed, and only Stauffenberg and Haeften remain. Stauffenberg is prepared to face his death when Haeften steps in front of him, taking the firing squad's first shots, and falling dead. The firing squad reloads, and aims at Stauffenberg, who screams "Long live sacred Germany," before falling dead. Witzleben is shown publicly denouncing Hitler in a trial, and the film reveals he took was executed. Then the film states that General Fromm's hasty executions could not save himself, and he too, was executed for not reporting the conspirators. The film concludes with a byline announcing Hitler's suicide less than a year later, and reveals that Stauffenberg's wife and children survived.

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In Lebanon, Hezbollah militants escort producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino) to Hezbollah founder Sheikh Fadlallah, where Lowell convinces him to be interviewed by Mike Wallace (Plummer) for CBS show 60 Minutes. In Louisville, Kentucky, Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) packs his belongings and leaves his Brown and Williamson office, returning home to his wife Liane (Venora) and two children, one of whom suffers from acute asthma. When Liane asks about the boxes in Wigand's car, he reveals that he was fired from his job that morning.Returning home to Berkeley, California, Bergman receives an anonymous package containing documents relating to tobacco company Philip Morris, and approaches a friend at the FDA for the name of a translator. Bergman is referred to Wigand, and calls him at his home only to be steadfastly rebuffed. Curious with Wigand's refusal to even speak to him, Bergman eventually convinces him to meet at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville. In the privacy of their hotel room, agrees to translate the tobacco documents, but stresses that he cannot talk about anything else because of his confidentiality agreement. After leaving with the documents, Wigand appears at a meeting with Brown and Williamson CEO Thomas Sandefur (Gambon), who orders him to sign an expanded confidentiality agreement, under threat of revoking his severance pay, medical coverage and initiating legal proceedings. Wigand, enraged at the threats and believing that Bergman notified Sandefur about their confidential meeting, calls and accuses Bergman of treachery.Bergman visits Wigand's house the next day and maintains that he did not reveal anything to Brown and Williamson. Reassured, Wigand talks to Bergman about the seven CEOs of 'Big Tobacco' perjuring themselves to the United States Congress about their awareness of nicotine's addictiveness, and that the CEOs should fear Wigand. Bergman says Wigand has to decide himself whether to blow the whistle on big tobacco. Bergman returns to CBS Headquarters in New York City, where he and Wallace discuss Wigand's situation and the potential damage he could do to Big Tobacco. A lawyer at the meeting claims that Wigand's confidentiality agreement, combined with Big Tobacco's unlimited checkbook, would effectively silence Wigand under mountains of litigation and court costs. Bergman proposes that Wigand could be compelled to speak through a court of law which could give him some protection against Brown and Williamson should he do an interview for 60 Minutes.The Wigand family move into a newer, more affordable house, and Wigand begins teaching chemistry and Japanese at a Louisville high school. One night while asleep, he's alerted by his daughter to sounds outside the house. Upon investigation, he discovers a fresh shoe print in his newly planted garden, and begins to become paranoid. The next night, Wigand and Bergman have dinner together, where Bergman asks Wigand about incidents from his past that Big Tobacco might use against him. Wigand reveals several incriminating incidents before declaring he can't see how they would affect his testimony. Bergman assures him they will.Bergman contacts Richard Scruggs (Feore) and Ron Motley (McGill), who with Mississippi's attorney general Mike Moore are suing Big Tobacco to reimburse the state for Medicaid funds used to treat people with smoking-related illnesses. The trio express an interest in Bergman's idea and tell him to have Wigand call them. Meanwhile, Wigand receives death threats via email and finds a bullet in his mailbox, prompting him to contact the FBI, who after subtly accusing him of emotional imbalance confiscate his computer for evidence. Enraged over the threats to his family, Wigand phones Bergman and demands that to fly to New York and tape his testimony immediately. During Wigand's interview with Wallace, Wigand states that Brown and Williamson manipulated nicotine through ammonia chemistry to allow nicotine to be more rapidly absorbed in the lungs and therefore affect the brain and central nervous system through impact boosting. He continues by saying Brown and Williamson have consciously ignored public health considerations in the name of profit.In Louisville, Wigand begins his new teaching job and talks to Richard Scruggs. Upon returning home, Wigand discovers that Bergman has given him some security personnel. Wigand's wife is struggling under the pressure and tells him so. Days later, Wigand travels to Mississippi, where he receives a restraining order issued by the State of Kentucky to prevent him from testifying. Though the restraining order, issued by Brown and Williamson's lawyers, was thrown out in Mississippi, Wigand is told that if he testifies and returns to Kentucky he could be imprisoned. After a lengthy period of introspection, Wigand goes to court and gives his deposition, during which he says nicotine acts as a drug. Following his testimony, Wigand returns to Louisville, where he discovers that his wife and children have left him.At this point the film shifts its emphasis from Wigand to Bergman. Bergman and Wallace go to a meeting with CBS Corporate about the Wigand interview. A legal concept has emerged, known as Tortious interference. If two parties have an agreement, such as a confidentiality agreement, and one of those parties is induced by a third party to break that agreement, the party can be sued by the other party for any damages. It is revealed that the more truth Wigand tells, the greater the damage, and a greater likelihood that CBS will be faced by a multi-billion dollar lawsuit from Brown and Williamson. It is later suggested that an edited interview take the place of the original. Bergman vehemently disagrees, and claims that the reason CBS Corporate is leaning on CBS News to edit the interview is because they fear that the prospect of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit could jeopardize the sale of CBS to Westinghouse. Wallace and Don Hewitt agree to edit the interview, leaving Bergman alone in the stance of airing it uncensored.A PR firm hired by Big Tobacco initiates a smear campaign against Wigand, dredging up details about his life and publishing a 500-page dossier. Through Wigand, Bergman discovers that Big Tobacco has distorted and exaggerated numerous claims, and convinces a reporter from the Wall Street Journal to delay the story until it can be disproven. Bergman contacts several private investigators who do begin their own investigation. Bergman releases his findings to the Wall Street Journal reporter and tells him to push the deadline. Meanwhile, due to his constant fights with CBS management, Bergman is ordered to go on vacation.Soon after, the edited interview is broadcast. Bergman attempts to call Wigand at his hotel but receives no answer. He instead calls the hotel manager, who opens Wigand's door but is stopped by the deadbolt. Peering into Wigand's room, the hotel manager spies Wigand sitting alone, lost in a daydream about the idyllic life he could have led without his testimony. Per Bergman's commands, the hotel manager convinces Wigand to accept Bergman's phone call. Wigand screams at Bergman, accusing him of manipulating him into his position. Bergman tells Wigand that he is important to a lot of people and that heroes like him are in short supply. After hanging up, Bergman contacts the The New York Times and reveals the scandal that occurred at 60 Minutes, causing the New York Times to release a scathing article. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal exonerates Wigand and reveals his deposition in Mississippi, while condemning Big Tobacco's 500-page smear as 'the lowest form of character assassination'. 60 Minutes finally broadcasts the full interview with Wigand.In the final scene Bergman talks to Wallace and he tells him that he's quitting saying, 'What got broken here doesn't go back together again'. The final shot is of him leaving the building. A series of title cards appear stating the $246 billion settlement that big tobacco made with Mississippi and other States in their lawsuit, that Wigand lives in South Carolina. In 1996, Dr. Wigand won the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher of the Year award, receiving national recognition for his teaching skills. Lowell Bergman works for the PBS show Frontline and teaches at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.