Che Guevara: Life of a Revolutionary

[Che Guevera]

Enter Che: the 60's symbol of student revolution, the all-pervasive ascetic gaze used to add allure and mystique to a product, because either a sophisticated audience is savvy enough to distinguish between revolution and commerce while enjoying the irony, or oblivious of who he is or what he represents. This began the metamorphosis from Che the martyred resistance fighter beloved by many, and Che the violent Marxist revolutionary despised by others, to his dual paradoxical position in the global corporate capitalist culture. The commodification of the image has been ongoing since his death, and since the late 1990s has seen a resurgence.

This abiding 'renaissance' of Che's visage, is chronicled by filmmaker and Guggenheim scholar Trisha Ziff, who explores the genesis, continuing adaptation, and history of Che Guevara's famous image in the 2008 documentary "Chevolution".[6]

[Che Guevera]

Hannah Charlton hypothesizes that "appropriating the aura of Che for brand building, has now given rise to a new resurgence of "Che-ness" that transcends branding in its global appeal. In the shifting complexities of intercultural values, in the search for universal images that can speak across borders and boundaries, today's global image of Che is the most successful."[7] The Che face, more than any other icon according to Charlton, can keep accruing new application without relinquishing its essence – a generic and positive version of anti-status quo and liberation from any oppressive force, and a general, romantic, non-specific fantasy about change and revolution.[7]

Taking note of Che's malleable essence, filmmakers Adriana Marino and Douglas Duarte created the 2007 documentary "Personal Che", which documents the numerous ways that people around the world re-create Che in their own image.[8

[Che Guevera]

In religion

 "Saint Ernesto" in Bolivia

    "It's like he is alive and with us, like a friend. He is kind of like a Virgin Mary for us. We say, 'Che, help us with our work or with this planting,' and it always goes well."
    — Manuel Cortez, a campesino who resides next to the schoolhouse where Guevara was executed

[Che Guevera]

A memorial site in La Higuera, Bolivia, where Che Guevara was executed on October 9, 1967.

[Che Guevera]

Che Guevara's unlikely transformation into a "sanctified" figure began immediately after his execution. Susana Osinaga, the nurse who cleaned Guevara's corpse after his execution reminisced that locals saw an uncanny physical resemblance to the popularized artistic portrayals of Jesus. According to Osinaga, "he was just like a Christ, with his strong eyes, his beard, his long hair", adding that her in her view he was "very miraculous."[10] Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, notes how among the hospital's nuns, and a number of Vallegrande women, the impression that Guevara bore an extraordinary resemblance to Jesus Christ quickly spread; leading them to surreptitiously clip off clumps of his long hair and keep them for good luck.[11] Jorge G. Castañeda, author of Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara, discerns that "the Christ-like image prevailed" stating "it's as if the dead Guevara looks on his killers and forgives them, and upon the world, proclaiming that he who dies for an idea is beyond suffering."[12]

[Che Guevera]

Eleven days after Guevara's execution, journalist I. F. Stone (who himself had interviewed Guevara), drew the comparison by noting that "with his curly reddish beard, he looked like a cross between a faun and a Sunday-school print of Jesus."[13] That observation was followed by German artist and playwright Peter Weiss' remark that the post-mortem images of Guevara resembled a "Christ taken down from the cross."

In August 1968, French intellectual Régis Debray who was captured in Bolivia while living with Che Guevara, gave a jailhouse interview where he also drew the comparison. According to Debray, Che (an atheist) "was a mystic without a transcendent belief, a saint without a God." Debray went on to tell interviewer Marlene Nadle of Ramparts Magazine that "Che was a modern Christ, but I think he suffered a much harder passion. The Christ of 2,000 years ago died face-to-face with his God. But Che knew there was no God and that after his death nothing remains."[14]

[Che Guevera]

Beginning with the 30th anniversary of Che's death, as Western reporters returned to Bolivia to report on commemorations, they began to notice that Che Guevara had been transfigured and "canonized" by the local Bolivian campesinos. No longer was he Che Guevara the guerrilla insurgent, but he was now viewed as a "Saint" by locals who had come to refer to him as "San Ernesto de La Higuera" (Saint Ernesto of La Higuera).[15] Accompanying his "Sainthood" came prayers for favors and legends of his ghost still walking the area.[15] This prompted the development of the 2006 film "San Ernesto de la Higuera" produced by Isabel Santos, which won best short documentary at the 5th International Film Festival of Human Rights.[16]

[Che Guevera]

As the 40th anniversary of Che's execution approached in 2007, journalists returned to discover that in Bolivia, images of Che now hung next to images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, & Pope John Paul II.[10] Additionally, columnist Christopher Roper observed that "in Bolivia, Che's murdered body was now compared to John the Baptist,[10] while Reuters reported that in many homes, Che's face competed for wall space with a host of Roman Catholic Saints.[9] A new legend also became known, when the Los Angeles Times reported that some rural campesinos now believed that if you whisper Che Guevara's name to the sky or light a candle to his memory, you will find your lost goat or cow.[17]

[Che Guevera]

A host of local campesinos went on record to journalists from The Guardian about this phenomenon as well. Melanio Moscoso, of La Higuera stated "we pray to him, we are so proud he had died here, in La Higuera, fighting for us. We feel him so close",[10] while Freddy Vallejos, of Vallegrande, proclaimed "we have a faith, a confidence in Che. When I go to bed and when I wake up, I first pray to God and then I pray to Che - and then, everything is all right. Che's presence here is a positive force. I feel it in my skin, I have faith that always, at all times, he has an eye on us."[10] Remi Calzadilla, a resident of Pucara, claimed that praying to Che had helped him regain the ability to walk, adding that "now every time I speak to Che I feel a strong force inside of me."[10]

The laundry where Guevara's corpse was displayed to the world's press in Vallegrande is now a place of pilgrimage as well, with hundreds of personal messages transcribed and carved into the surrounding walls from admiring visitors. In large letters above the table where Che's dead body once lie, an engraving now reads "None dies as long as he is remembered."

[Che Guevera]

Outside Bolivia

    "The resemblance to aspects of Christ's life on earth can be easily traced in the life of Che. Both were doctors – Christ as miracle healer, Che as the trained physician, and were active as such, even or especially so when they were fighting, doctoring when others were resting or escaping. Both men were particularly concerned with leprosy, the disease of the downtrodden and outcast, as The Motorcycle Diaries (books and film) have reminded us in the case of Che. Like Che, Jesus was an egalitarian, a communist in terms of owning little and sharing all, and his disciples were bidden to hold all in common. Both were strict disciplinarians, who insisted on individuals leaving families, friends and privileges behind to join them, sacrificing comforts and, if need be, their own lives."
    — David Kunzle, author of Che Guevara: Icon, Myth, and Message [18]

[Che Guevera]

    * The Church of England caused some controversy in 1999, when they drew comparisons of Jesus to Che Guevara on a red and black poster entitled "Che Jesus", which bore the slogan: "Meek. Mild. As if. Discover the real Jesus."[19] In response to the controversy Reverend Peter Owens-Jones of the Church Advertising Network (CAN) who designed the ad stated "We are not saying that Jesus was communist, but that he was revolutionary. We are exploiting the image of revolution, not the image of Che Guevara."[20]

    * Che Guevara appears as the Christ figure in a mural called "The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes" in Stanford University's Latino Dorm (Casa Zapata).[21]

    * Actor Benicio Del Toro who played Guevara in the 2008 biopic Che, compared the guerrilla leader to Jesus Christ, stating "I think Che had perseverance and morality ... being the underdog and fighting against injustice and standing up for the forgotten moved him so hard. Kind of like Jesus, in a way - only Jesus would turn the other cheek. Che wouldn't."[22

[Che Guevera]

In films

    "Che Guevara was an amazing character. He's a person that changed the world and really forces me to change the rules of what I am."
    — Gael García Bernal, portrayed Che in The Motorcycle Diaries [23]

[Che Guevera]

Actors who have portrayed Che Guevara:

    * Francisco Rabal in El Che Guevara (1968)

    * Omar Sharif in Che! (1969)

    * Michael Palin in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)

    * Antonio Banderas in Evita (1996)

    * Miguel Ruiz Días in El Che (1997)

    * Alfredo Vasco in Hasta la Victoria Siempre (1999)

    * Gael García Bernal in Fidel (2002)

    * Karl Sheils in Meeting Che Guevara & the Man from Maybury Hill (2003)

    * Gael García Bernal in The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

    * Jsu Garcia in The Lost City (2005)

    * Martin Hyder in The Mark Steel Lectures: Che Guevara (2006)

    * Sam G. Preston in The True Story of Che Guevara (2007)

    * Eduardo Noriega in Che (2007)

    * Benicio Del Toro in Che (2008)

[Che Guevera]

Benicio Del Toro in the 2008 biopic Che.

[Che Guevera]

Other

    "I think anyone who buys a t-shirt of Che has gotta be cool. If I see someone with a Che t-shirt, I think, 'He's got good taste'."
    — Benicio Del Toro, portrayed Guevara in the 2008 biopic Che [22]