Electric Shadow

Spine Number 496: CHE


Criterion has at long last announced a killer edition of Steven Soderbergh's CHE. The comprehensive extras, as reported previously, are the cause of the long wait for the announcement and release. The DVD Edition is 3 discs (each feature on its own disc and a third for extras), and the Blu-ray is 2 discs (not sure how things are split up there). The extras include the following (with my added comments):

High-definition digital transfers of Che: Part One and Che: Part Two, supervised and approved by director Steven Soderbergh, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition

Audio commentaries on both films, featuring Jon Lee Anderson, author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
[Ed. note- This guy is not only considered a subject matter expert, but depending on your feelings about Guevara himself, something of a controversial guy.]

Making "Che", a new documentary about the film's production, featuring interviews with Soderbergh, producer Laura Bickford, actor-producer Benicio del Toro, and writers Peter Buchman and Ben van der Veen
[Ed. note- I have the expectation that this will be every bit as comprehensive and engrossing as the Benjamin Button doc from that disc.]

New interviews with Cuban historians as well as participants in the 1958 Cuban Revolution and Che's 1967 Bolivian campaign
[Ed. note- I may see family members in this. You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not.]

Deleted scenes
[Ed. note- Apparently one of the big delays was giving Soderbergh time to compile these. I assume that was time well spent waiting, based on his previous Criterion contributions.]

Theatrical trailers

A booklet featuring an essay by critic Amy Taubin