Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Completely forgot this anniversary!
It's Che Guevarra-O'Lynch's death anniversary. There is actually some stuff about it on BHT 1 tonight.
In fact not only was this anniversary noted quite a bit on the news, they showed without commercial interruption 'The Motorcycle Diaries' which I've never seen before. It's one of those films that did not make it to the Yakima Gulag or only did so for a VERY short period of time. Certain films never make it there because it's assumed no one will go see them, others only get short runs as foreign films in the cinema devoted to 'art films' or foreign films. 'The Motorcycle Diaries is in Spanish' not only that, it's Argentinian Spanish, which means I had a hard time understanding it, and was damned grateful for the Bosnian subtitles! :).
The film has it's propagandistic moments, but was all the same believable, there were some great scenes of parties, and one pretty amusing fight that broke out at a party in Chile, where the guys were chased out of town by enraged Chileans who were calling them many names in Spanish, only a few of which got translated. I think that they didn't translate EVERYTHING for reasons of 'decency'. I've noticed sometimes they DO translate everything, and sometimes they don't. I prefer that they do, it's more honest, and it's silly to pretend that people have major adventures and no one swears.
The film did a pretty good job of showing the conditions in Latin America which led Che Guevarra to become a revolutionary, it did not dwell on his death, because the film was not at all about his later life. His death was dealt with in an epilogue kind of way, and that is where most of the direct message went.
I found some bits really hilarious, and found others touching. There are elements of Che's story that have entered into legend. Even the doubts about exactly where where, when and how he died, or if he died at all contribute to his legendary status. Che Guevarra was a human being, and his real life probably could not stand up to the scrutiny of people who practically worship him, and lest we forget, dead or alive he was involved in some nasty stuff along the way.
In fact not only was this anniversary noted quite a bit on the news, they showed without commercial interruption 'The Motorcycle Diaries' which I've never seen before. It's one of those films that did not make it to the Yakima Gulag or only did so for a VERY short period of time. Certain films never make it there because it's assumed no one will go see them, others only get short runs as foreign films in the cinema devoted to 'art films' or foreign films. 'The Motorcycle Diaries is in Spanish' not only that, it's Argentinian Spanish, which means I had a hard time understanding it, and was damned grateful for the Bosnian subtitles! :).
The film has it's propagandistic moments, but was all the same believable, there were some great scenes of parties, and one pretty amusing fight that broke out at a party in Chile, where the guys were chased out of town by enraged Chileans who were calling them many names in Spanish, only a few of which got translated. I think that they didn't translate EVERYTHING for reasons of 'decency'. I've noticed sometimes they DO translate everything, and sometimes they don't. I prefer that they do, it's more honest, and it's silly to pretend that people have major adventures and no one swears.
The film did a pretty good job of showing the conditions in Latin America which led Che Guevarra to become a revolutionary, it did not dwell on his death, because the film was not at all about his later life. His death was dealt with in an epilogue kind of way, and that is where most of the direct message went.
I found some bits really hilarious, and found others touching. There are elements of Che's story that have entered into legend. Even the doubts about exactly where where, when and how he died, or if he died at all contribute to his legendary status. Che Guevarra was a human being, and his real life probably could not stand up to the scrutiny of people who practically worship him, and lest we forget, dead or alive he was involved in some nasty stuff along the way.
# posted by Katja R. @ 11:03 AM 
