THE STORY – After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, three guerrilla fighters followed Che Guevara in his attempt to carry the uprising beyond the island. In 1967, after their final battle in Bolivia and Che’s execution, these shadow warriors embarked on an extraordinary 2,400 km journey across Bolivia, pursued by 4,000 soldiers and navigating remote terrain in a bid to stay alive. Sixty years later, Che’s last surviving comrades recount this untold story of endurance and loyalty, in which individual destinies were shaped by the larger geopolitical currents of the Cold War. Blending rare archive footage, animation and exclusive interviews, the film brings a forgotten chapter of history into the present.
THE CAST – Vincent Lindon
THE TEAM – Christophe Dimitri Réveille (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 98 Minutes
I was once on a trip in Latin America, and one of our party commented on the figure emblazoned on the front of many people’s t-shirts, which were easily spotted as we walked through the streets. The image is an iconic one, showing a bearded man with piercing eyes, their gaze aimed slightly upwards, akin to a religious painting. Bedecked in a jaunty beret, his wispy mustache, tattered beard, and nimbus of black hair grant him an even more messianic air. “Why is everyone wearing Hitler shirts?” she asked, and luckily, none of the locals were there to hear her idiocy.
For many people, the legacy of legendary revolutionary martyr Che Guevara is little more than fodder for fashion. Yet for millions around the world, his actions in his native Argentina, through to his role in the Cuban uprising, right through to his eventual demise in the jungles of Bolivia, continue to resonate in near biblical fashion. His life was a fascinating one, and there have been innumerable books, programs, documentaries, and even a challenging yet rewarding biopic by Steven Soderbergh that valiantly tried to bring the man’s multifaceted life into focus with all the complexity and contradictions intact.
Which brings us to Christophe Dimitri Réveille’s own documentary, showcased at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Instead of focusing on the famous figure, the film uses archival footage and interviews with several of his guerrilla comrades who fought in the jungle during his last stand, telling their stories in detail, while some blanks are filled in with animated sequences. Some of those who were hunting the group also provide testimony, with these talking head-style interviews occupying the majority of the film’s running time.
While, in theory, focusing on “The Last Companions,” which gives this Che Guevara film its title, seems ripe for examination, it could offer greater insight into his final moments and make sense of what always seemed like a quixotic quest to foster a Communist uprising in Bolivia. A deep dive into these circumstances, providing insight into the complex machinations of mid-1960’s Latin America, let alone his increasingly strained relationship with the Castro regime, would indeed be fascinating.
This is not that film.
Instead, viewers are treated to a dreary, amateur-looking, assembled “film” stripped of any attempt at cinematic pretense, failing even to pass for a compelling late-20th-century documentary set to air on some off-brand cable channel. Augmented with somnambulant narration by a seemingly disinterested Vincent Lindon (the best part of Palme winner “Titane“), it’s almost comical how crap this portrait of the gormless group of semi-soldiers ends up in the end.
Listening to the rambling remembrances of these now elderly men, captured with the sophisticated lighting strategy of a police interrogation and the set decoration of a poorly funded funeral home, one grasps for any sense of adventure or even historical importance from what they’re regurgitating. The broad strokes of what took place on the last day of Guevara’s life are readily known, and despite teasing new revelations, the at times contradictory testimonials mostly serve as either a form of penance for leaving their colleague behind or act as a way of further aggrandizing their relationship to one of the more provocative figures of the century.
None of the men interviewed is presented as having a life of interest beyond their almost accidental connection to this legend, and even when they spill out what should be a resume of revolutionary success, it all comes across as slapdash. There’s almost nothing in the way of charisma from any of the lot, be they hunter or hunted, and the poorly realized drawings do little to make things any less murky or meandering.
Unsurprisingly, given the nature of its presentation, there’s a significant connection to several Frenchmen, making somehow France at the center of a story that otherwise has far more to do with the actual superpowers of the age, as well as the numerous factions within Latin America, an Ocean away from much of France’s contemporaneous influence. Implausible, their inclusion is made to feel even cheaper through these local asides, and the temerity of twisting the story to fit the fascination of French audiences is all the more embarrassing.
The film makes the case that this is a lost chapter in Guevara’s story. Still, instead of over a seemingly interminable 98 minutes of repetitive archive footage, grainy photos, and dully presented stories of heroism, there’s a niggling sense that maybe this was a story best forgotten if this was the result. Maybe there’s a fine film to be told about these men and their Bolivian adventures. Still, if something of the appalling caliber of “Che Guevara: The Last Companions” is what finally crawled out of the jungle, maybe these memories should have been left buried all along.
