Che: Part One (2008)

In Havana in 1964, Che Guevara is interviewed by Lisa Howard who asks him if reform throughout Latin America might not blunt the “message of the Cuban Revolution”. In 1955, at a gathering in Mexico City, Guevara first meets Fidel Castro. He listens to Castro’s plans and signs on as a member of the July 26th Movement. There is a return to 1964 for Guevara’s address before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, where he makes an impassioned speech against American imperialism, and defends the executions his regime has committed, declaring “this is a battle to the death.”

March 1957. Guevara deals with debilitating bouts of asthma as his group of revolutionaries meet up with Castro’s. Together, they attack an army barracks in the Sierra Maestra on 28 May 1957. After that, they begin to win over the rural peasant population of Cuba and receive increasing support, while battling both the government and traitors in their midst. Gradually, however, the government loses control of most of the rural areas. Soon afterward, the 26 July Movement forges alliances with other revolutionary movements in Cuba, and begin to assault towns and villages. Most fall to the rebels with little to no resistance.