The Reagan doctrine for US-Latin American relations has died.

With the democratic electoral win for the FMLN in El Salvador, the Latin American left dominates politics throughout Central and South America. The FMLN in El Salvador. The Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The South American left wing governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and other nations.

Back in the 1980's, a dominant part of Reagan's foreign policy was to support right wing dictators and right wing death squads in Latin America to topple existing left wing governments (e.g. Nicaragua) or to prevent a left wing take over (e.g. El Salvador). The atrocities Reagan was willing to accept from his proxies were disgusting. The rape and murder of nuns. The destruction of entire villages. Torture and terrorism worse than anything Saddam Hussein ever perpetrated. And remember that Reagan was even willing to deal with Iran in order to keep weapons flowing to his brutal anti-communist proxy armies.
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While I was on my way home after watching the double-bill roadshow of "Ché" for the second time around, I was stopped by half a dozen random people who wanted to know if the movies were worth the 4 1/2 hours in the theater. They noticed the catalog IFC printed for the movies and the "mala, loca y sin idea" look on my face --the one I get when struck by awe, confusion and excitement. All six were so impressed by my report that they said they'd indeed spend the 4.5 hours (with an intermission, of course) if it meant they were going to look as weirdly pleased as I was. (Note to Beno : I want my commission).

"El Argentino" and "Guerrilla" stand on their own as separate movies. Yet the thrill of watching "Ché" is to see the character unfold in his epic success in the Cuban Revolution and his wretched end in the badlands of Bolivia in a style true to the guerrillero's view of the world.

Soderbergh, Del Toro and company had the rather herculean task of tapping a narrative and aesthetic economy different from what's usually produced in the US movie industry due in part to Guevara's historical currency. It is based on close-up shots of his good looking face and sound-bites from his ferociously confrontational speeches; always frozen in the awesomeness of his celebrity.

If they were going to do any justice to Ernesto Guevara, they needed to heed aesthetically to a man who famously eschewed the need of fetishizing the psychology of intent or desire by elevating the work, action and never-ending process of becoming revolutionary as the true measure of man and woman.

I am most certain this is part of the reason why the movie has been deemed as "incomplete" and devoid of any emotional or psychological insight into the brain of el Ché. Soderbergh and Del Toro make the cojudo choice of going rather Brechtian with this movie and giving more than a nod and a tip of the hat to the Marxist inspired neo-realist literature, theater and movie-making of the first half of the 20th century.

Actually, Soderbergh's "Ché" reminded me very much of the neo-realism by way of Brazil's Cinema Novo with films like Hector Babenco's "Pixote" (who is also the director of the psychological yet brutally realistic "Kiss of the Spider Woman") and before it Nelson Pereira dos Santos' "Vidas Secas". This last film is considered one of the masterpieces of Latin American 20th century film-making. Based on Gracialiano Ramos' novel by the same name, it does the impossible : It puts into film a novel that was untranslatable and unadaptable.

Ernesto Guevara was many things to many people and given his penchant for glorifying action as the ultimate measure of an individual, he in a sense also defied any interpretation or translations of who he was as a man. Yet somehow that's exactly what Soderbergh and Del Toro accomplish.
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From the IFC Center website:
November 26, 1956; led by Fidel Castro (Demian Bichir), a band of 80 rebels sails to Cuba. Among these young rebels is Argentine physician, Marxist, soldier, Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Benicio Del Toro, Best Actor winner at the Cannes Film Festival). Nation-less, strapped for resources and fueled only by determination, the group engages in swift, bloody battle to free the Cuban people from the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che and his soldiers wrestle the nation's resources and affection from Batista's grasp. Though considered a hero by some, Che becomes a hugely controversial figure. At the height of his fame and power, he disappears. Entering South America incognito, Che recruits another band of guerilla fighters in the harsh Bolivian jungles. They embark upon a mission to spark revolution throughout Latin America.

Related :
Four things you need to know about Ernesto Guevara before watching Benicio del Toro as "Ché"
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Geezus.

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo found out about this gaffe via El País, Spain's "paper of record".

John McCain, is being interviewed by a journalist with an obvious Castillian accent. She asks him a series of questions about his future policies towards Latin America (which was the focus of the press conference).

Then in the last 30-40 seconds of the clip she asks him if he's looking forward to meeting with Jorge Zapatero, the prime minister of Spain. This is a somewhat tricky diplomatic question. Since winning the elections more than a year ago, Zapatero has not had a chance to visit the White House, nor has George Bush gone to Spain for an official meeting.

What does McCain do? Give his standard talking point about meeting with friendly countries only and standing tough against rogue and hostile countries.

The reporter re-frases the question 3 more times, with the last one being, "what about Europe? Spain is in Europe". McCain sticks to the talking about as if Spain were a Latin American threat to the United States.

Here's the audio clip :

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