You would think not speaking Spanish might be a bit of an impediment when undertaking a biopic about Ernesto “Che” Guevara, one of the most lionized figures in recent history. But Steven Soderbergh didn’t let that niggling detail discourage him from tackling the life story of the Argentine more recognizable these days as the face plastered on dorm room walls and hipster T-shirts. Bearing more than a passing resemblance to a history primer in mid-20th-century international relations, the first part of Soderbergh’s four-and-a-half-hour Viva Che! marathon covers his fateful meeting with Fidel Castro, the covert boat trip to Cuba that kicked off their successful mission to overthrow Batista and wrest the island from American rule, and their subsequent rise to power. The film’s second half is spent in the jungles of Bolivia, where Che disappeared to in a bid to spread the revolutionary word, and would ultimately meet an early death. Soderbergh’s direction throughout is steady, if self-indulgent, and Benicio Del Toro’s acting passable. But, just as failed endeavours are infinitely more interesting than successful ones, flawed protagonists are more captivating than perfect ones. And to its detriment, throughout Soderbergh’s interminable exercise, we only ever see Che the hero, never Che the man.—Stéphanie Verge