Steven Soderbergh Defends And Explains Epic "Che"

CANNES, France — Unless it is one of his "Ocean's Eleven" casino romps, Steven Soderbergh never makes things easy for an audience. With his epic film biography of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Soderbergh defiantly has made the story he wanted to see, one that will prove a very tough sell to some audiences. The two-part saga runs four hours, 30 minutes. It is almost entirely in Spanish, a particular challenge for U.S. viewers who dislike subtitles. It dispenses with many cliches of the biopic, offering virtually no insight into the origin of Che's brand of humanism, instead presenting impressionistic glimpses of Che's idealism in action during the Cuban revolution and his attempt to foment a similar transformation in Bolivia. Soderbergh was prepared for reporters' skepticism on all fronts at a Cannes news conference Thursday. On shooting in Spanish: "You can't make a film with any level of credibility in this case ... (link)