Che: A Revolutionary Life

A cinematic approach chips away at the myths and misunderstandings that still surround the life of Che Guevara, the famed doctor turned revolutionary, in this in-depth graphic novel adaptation of Anderson’s exhaustive biography. Che is fleshed out as a young man whose frustration with U.S. interference throughout the Western hemisphere aligns him with anti-imperialist causes, at first in Guatemala and Mexico, famously in the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba, fruitlessly in a campaign in the Congo, and then tragically in Bolivia, where he was assassinated. Adding warmth to the exhaustive research drawn from letters, newspapers and official documents are Che’s writings to his mother—whose own life was upended by her son’s actions. Hernandez’s art tries to match Che’s iconic steadfastness and the weight of the story with photographic realism, but the overall effect is stiff. Yet the scope of the work meets the author’s aim to inspire renewed reflection on Che’s revolutionary ideas, and—as when Che denounces the “meddling of a foreign power” in a radio interview—holds renewed relevance as well. [em]Agent: Sarah Chalfant, The Wylie Agency (Nov.) [/em]