I watched Che Part 1 and 2 the other day. You know…Che. The Independent release that chronicles the life of Che Guevara (Part 1–up through the Cuban revolution and Part 2–up until his death in Bolivia). Yes…Che. In the movie, Che was played by Benicio Del Toro. In real life he was played by Fidel Castro–but that’s a whole nother post for another time.(I’m sort of kidding).
For some reason still unknown fully to me, I have always been mesmerized by the prolific image of Che with his chin length hair capped off with that beret, his mysterious eyes, and the scruffy beard. That image is, afterall, one of the most famous pictures in the world.
More than the picture, before I even really knew who Che was, I was always fascinated by how everybody else I knew was fascinated with him. Maybe it was his rugged cuteness. Maybe it was his fierceness. Maybe it was because he was a doctor turned warrior–an intellectual thug for the people–if you will. Maybe they all just liked the picture.
After watching the movie–which is On Demand if you have cable and still in theatres if you have the rocks to sit in a theatre that long–I think I know why Che has become the symbol for “the revolution” (that is, if the concept of revolution can be schlepped into one pile). My take is that he was one of few who had a grand idea, created an effective plan, and carried out his plan by soliciting the people to do what they could not do without his leadership. He said that numbers don’t matter. He said men have to know what they’re fighting for AND they have to be driven by love. What?!
Clearly, there is just too much involved to make a strong enough coherent case for his tactics in this post without spoiling the movie (or having this post end up just as long). In brief, he made sure all of his guerillas could read and write. If they couldn’t, they were taught. He said (and I do not quote) “an uneducated people can be manipulated by their government”. Funny how true his philosophy rings today…and how much we have been reluctant to learn from the past.
I don’t believe in coincidence. I don’t believe there is any universal mistake that the movie Che was released at the same time that Obama made his way into office. Something is brewing in the universe. There is something we’ve missed in our moving forward that we can learn from the past. Sometimes we have to look back to see what’s ahead for us…maybe.
If you’ve haven’t seen Che yet, I fully recommend it. In fact, order it On Demand, invite 10 of your friends and make a movie night out of it. At the least, the convo afterward will be priceless.
I’ll tell you what though, if these damned bankers don’t get it together, and soon, Che (and maybe Barack) won’t be the only one(s) wearing the beret. The moral of this story? As usual, none to be found here. Just some food for thought. Thank you for reading this though. Blessings. -e- Viva la Evolution!