Ernesto « Che » Guevara, le Journal de Bolivie
Richard Dindo
Switzerland, France | 1994 | 94 min
Languages : French, Spanish
Inspired by Guevara’s diary, Dindo follows in the footsteps of the Cuban revolutionary, seeking out the people and places that shared his last battle. Starting with the sadly famous image of Che on his deathbed, the inevitable failure of a revolutionary dream unfolds on screen. An ambitious work of memory that investigates the legend as a man in all of his emotional intensity.
In 1994, inspired by a text, as has frequently been the case throughout his career, Richard Dindo set out to follow in the footsteps of the Cuban revolutionary, seeking out the people and places who shared the last battle of his life. Initiated by the sadly famous image of Che on his deathbed – more generously framed than usual – the inevitable end of the man unfolds on screen and with it the failure of an intellectual, of a revolutionary dream. Through a series of diary excerpts carefully selected by the filmmaker and read in voiceover, lulled by the nostalgia inherent in a work of mourning, the film’s first part is peppered with many archival images describing the internationalist Marxist’s departure from Cuba, as well as his arrival in the Bolivian maquis. These become less frequent, giving way to the words of those who were close to him, and to the silence of the now hopeless quest. An ambitious work of memory that demystifies his fall from grace and investigates the legend as a man in all his emotional intensity.
