Movie reviewers, let alone ex-pats in second-rate, second-language newspapers, are a poor target for criticism. But then again, what am I but a guy sitting in his PJs letting out an occasional barbaric yip into the cacophony of yips and yaps over the cyber-rooftops of the world? So until I hit the big time, I'm going to perform the unsavory task of watching my little corner of the world--ex-pats in Japan--and point out the mental flatulence of one Mr Giovanni Fazio. It's my little pet peeve, so bear with me.
Fazio seems unable to get through a movie review without pandering to the moon-bat crowd. It's an old, old, story. Make a left-leaning comment to remind everyone what a rebel you, how deep your humanitarian impulses run, how intellectual you are, etc., etc. In other words, follow the herd.
In his review of Motorcycle Diaries, Fazio drops this gem:
Che is remembered for his fiery revolutionary idealism ("It is better to die standing than to live on your knees!"), for fighting with Castro's guerrillas in Cuba, and for dying -- at the hands of the CIA -- after a failed attempt to export the revolution to Bolivia in 1966. The specific brand of ideology he wound up attached to -- communism -- has since lost its shine, but Salles doesn't go there. He's less interested in Che's ultimate answer -- violent resistance to imperialism and oligarchy -- than the questions that drove him to take this path.
First distortion: Che died at the hands of the CIA. The average person, who knows nothing of the Guevera, must conjure up a picture of the heroic, bearded revolutionary being mercilessly executed by white guys in trench coats. Didn't happen that way. Even Che-worshipping sites like this tell different story:
About 12 p.m.: A unit from General Prados company, all recent graduates of the U.S. Army Special Forces training camp, confronts the guerrillas, killing two soldiers and wounding many others. (Harris, 127)
...As soldiers approach Che he shouts, "Do not shoot! I am Che Guevara and worth more to you alive than dead." The battle ends at approximately 3:30 p.m. Che is taken prisoner. (Rojo, 219; James, 14)
Later he is exectued--by Bolivian officers. So here we have a guy who enters a sovereign nation expressley to overthrow the government, receives almost no support from the peasants he was purporting to liberate, and is killed by the army of the country he invaded. Fazio would have us believe that he was a political victim. Well, if you get your politics from movie review sound bites, you deserve to dwell in ignorance. To learn more about Che, here's a good piece from the Guardian (of all places) via the Havana Journal. Was the CIA involved? Maybe. But then again, Castro and the USSR may have had blood on their hands as well.
Okay. We can expect political commentary in a move about a semi-political figure like Che Guevara. But in Catwoman?
It might have sounded great on paper, but the onscreen results will rank among cinema's great career swan dives -- think Kevin Costner's "Waterworld" or Ben Affleck's and Jennifer Lopez's "Gigli" (yet to open in Japan, mercifully.) "Catwoman," a spin-off from the on-again/off-again "Batman" franchise, is about as likely to reach a sequel as an Austrian bodybuilder is to become President of the United States. (Then again . . . )
And again, in the same review, this time treating another comic-book adaptation, Hell Boy, Fazio makes another gratuitious aside:
More damning is that there's nothing unique about this tale of a demon living among humanity and working for the U.S. government to battle the "evil ones": Nazis, Rasputin, biblical demons and John Kerry.
It seems someone else has designated himself as a hero doing battle with his idea of "evil ones."
I read a good book about Che called "Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life". Can be a little over informative though. I experinced something once while in a fashion shop in the US. In the store was a shirt with Che imprinted on the front - just for kicks I checked to see where it was made. Sure enough "Haiti". I just find it so ironic that alot of progressive people dawn these shirts. The very fact that the shirt was made by most likely poor laborers in Haiti goes against everything Che stood for. I guess for a lot of Americans it is more important to look the part than play it.
Posted by: Peter | October 16, 2004 at 12:09 AM