Hey, ‘Che’ is one worthy view

When I announced that we were going to see the new Steven Soderbergh film “Che,” the reaction was, generally speaking, “Ugh, that’s what, uh, five hours long?”

Actually it’s only 257 minutes, which by my elementary estimation is four hours and 17 minutes. And the only “ugh” involved involves the crap that people spilled on the floor of the theater where we saw it – Los Angeles’ Nuart Theatre .

Presented in two distinct parts, with an intervening intermission, “Che” tells the story of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentine-born Cuban revolutionary who helped Fidel Castro come to power and then, several years later, was killed while trying to bring the same revolutionary overthrow to Bolivia.

The film is marked by Soderbergh’s ability to create the kind of authenticity that brings history alive. Watching the film, you feel as if you are present during the events as they take shape. And while Soderbergh, depending on a screenplay adapted by Peter Buchman and Benjamin A. van der Veen from Guevara’s diaries, takes a complimentary view of Guevara, the film overall is likely to strike true to those on either side of the political spectrum.

As Che, Benicio Del Toro is as good as he’s been since “Traffic,” Soderbergh’s 2001 film that won the actor a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

But the best thing that I can say about “Che” involves comparing it to “Valkyrie,” Bryan Singer’s film about another kind of political/war martyr, Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise). In both films, you know going in that the protagonist isn’t going to get out alive.

Yet in “Valkyrie,” Singer maintains a determinedly classic stance, respectfully following the story of this one of many ill-fated attempts to murder Hitler in a way that stresses courage and honor. But it can’t cover up the fact that von Stauffenberg failed in his mission any more than Singer can arouse any real sense of suspense while portraying that mission.

Soderbergh, though, not only creates suspense but manages to maintain it through his movie’s final two hours as he follow Guevara during his desperate and ultimately vain year-long Bolivian struggle.

If “Che” had played in Spokane during 2008, I would have placed it on my Top 10 list. As it is, it ranks among the best films that I saw that were released somewhere in 2008.

Not that it’s ever likely to play in the Lilac City, except on DVD. Which is enough, you know, to make me say … well, “ugh.”