Yesterday at Cannes, Steven Soderbergh’s film “Che” was the topic of everyone’s conversations, especially of the critics’.

Ok, we can all agree that the 4 hour-and-28-minute epic film, cut in two parts, about the guerrilla campaigns of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the icon of Cuban revolution, was a little bit long. Ok, kind of long. Ok, it was so long that some viewers preferred to imagine the second part of the movie than to actually stay and see it.

The fact is that Che started out as a medicine student but eventually left this job to become the commander of guerilla troops which are known for their cruelty and violence. We can even overview the execution made under his command of 500 Batista sustainers, soldiers and also civilians, after Castro came to power. Although violence was not always necessary, we can cut Che some slack because he did all that having in mind the creation of a better society. It’s like in the saying “The end justifies the means.”

The big picture remains that Che Guevara is a hero because he did all that having in sight a greater good.

But, when it comes to a movie, the best thing to do is to present both sides of the story, which Soderbergh didn’t do. He focused on Che’s idyllic figure overlooking a part of the truth.

Even if he gets credit for respecting historical truth, he managed to lose many points in his manner of presentation. The movie was divided in two halves. The first part presented the victory over the Batista regime and the second part pictured Che’s failed attempt to convince Bolivians to take some kind of action.The more alive context from the first part where Che and Fidel Castro were idolized by peasantry turned into a long, static description of the futility of Che’s attempts to win on his side the reluctant Bolivians.

It looks like Soderbergh didn’t think this through, as the most powerful moment of the 4-hour movie happens in the last part when Che is betrayed and gets murdered by the Bolivian army. People who lack patience will never get to see this scene.

The cast of the film was mostly composed by unknown actors, the exceptions being Benicio del Toro, Matt Damon with a one minute part and Franka Potente.

The are also many good things about this movie, like the fact that the whole story seems more real because it’s in Spanish and del Toro portrays Che very well but the numerous details and the duration of the movie eclipse del Toro’s performance.

All in all, the movie is not bad but I’m very sure that it disappointed many who, knowing some Soderbergh movies like “Ocean’s 13,” “Erin Brockovich” and Palm D’Or winner “Sex, Lies & Videotape,” had great expectations, especially with a great movie subject like Che Guevara.

It is possible that the movie will be released in theatres in two parts titled “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla,” and the Washington Post reported that Soderbergh has not yet an American buyer for his film.

Soderbergh said that Guevara has always fascinated him and that the movie's accent was more on the character than on Cuba.