| Che: Rise and Fall | |
|---|---|
 UK Release, 2006 | |
| Directed by | Eduardo Montes-Bradley |
| Produced by | Soledad Liendo |
| Starring | Alberto Granado, Alberto Castellanos,Enrique Oltuski, Argudín Mendoza, Enrique “Pombo” Villegas |
| Edited by | Eduardo Montes-Bradley |
| Music by | Various |
| Distributed by | Alexander Street Press, Heritage Film Project. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Spanish with English Subtitles. Dubbed into German. |
Che Rise and Fall is a documentary film created byEduardo Montes-Bradley. The film was entirely shot in Cuba at the timeChe Guevara’s remains was airlifted fromBolivia toSanta Clara the final resting place. The documentary features the testimonies of Guevara’s comrades-in-arms inSierra Maestra,Congo and Bolivia, also withAlberto Granado with whom Guevara rode a motorcycle from Argentina on a trip that will end 16 years later in the jungles of Bolivia, an experience that was brought to the big screen onThe Motorcycle Diaries.Che Rise and Fall begins with an account of Guevara's death in Bolivia in 1967 and fittingly ends with footage of the return of his remains for interment in a monument in Santa Clara's Revolution Square some 30 years later.[1][2]
Che Rise and Fall explores an unorthodox approach to the myth of Guevara as a revolutionary icon. According to Lourdes Vázquez fromRutgers University Library, the film documents Guevara’s frustrated experience during the period spent fighting inCongo's Revolutionary War as well as his sense of failure.[3] The documentary includes original archival footage, original photographs taken byErnesto Guevara in Mexico, and images from the ceremony of Guevara’s remains being brought toSanta Clara, originally included on the documentary "Che, a man of this world" (1998) directed by Marcelo Schapces.[4]
Che: Rise and Fall premiered onNational Geographic Channel on June 14, 2007[5][6] and has been released on DVD in the U.S., Germany,[7] United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain.
The documentary is structured around the testimony of Guevara’s childhood friendAlberto Granado, and those of Alberto Castellanos,Enrique Oltuski, Argudín Mendoza, Enrique “Pombo” Villegas, all members of his elite military entourage of Che Guevara during his revolutionary incursions inSierra Maestra, Congo, and Bolivia.Che: Rise and Fall, was shot inLa Habana,Bolivia, and undisclosed locations in Africa. What seems to distinguish this documentary from other biographical attempts to capture the man behind the myth is the fact that even though the filmmaker features a wealth of archival stills and film footage, it’s essentially an oral history told by those who knew Ernesto Guevara—filmed onSuper 16mm. Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 DVD | Release Date: July 13, 2006.[8]
Che: Rise and Fall has been invited to participate at the 20èmes Rencontres Cinémas d'Amérique Latine de Toulouse, in France. WorldCat also lists the documentary as available at some fifty university and public libraries in the United States, including the University of Virginia, National Defense University Library,Defense Intelligence Agency,Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Bucknell University,University of Pennsylvania Libraries, the College of New Jersey, Morehead State University, Ohio State University Libraries, Emory University, Dartmouth College Library, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Tulane University.
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