Che: Rise and Fall

Che Rise and Fall is a documentary film created by Eduardo Montes-Bradley. The film was entirely shot in Cuba at the time Che Guevara’s remains were airlifted from Bolivia to Santa Clara the final resting place. The documentary features the testimonies of Guevara’s comrades-in-arms in Sierra Maestra, Congo and Bolivia, also with Alberto Granado with whom Guevara rode a motorcycle from Argentina on a trip that will end, tragically, sixteen years later in the jungles of Bolivia, an experience that was brought to the big screen on The Motorcycle Diaries. Che Rise and Fall begins with an account of Guevara's death in Bolivia in 1967, and fittingly ends with footage of the return of his remains for internment in a monument in Santa Clara's Revolution Square some 30 years later.

Che Rise and Fall explores an unorthodox approach to the myth of Che as a revolutionary icon. According to Lourdes Vázquez from Rutgers University Library, the film documents Che’s frustrated experience for the period spent fighting a in Congo's Revolutionary War as well as his sense of failure. The documentary includes original archival footage, original photographs taken by Ernesto Guevara in Mexico, and images from the ceremony of Che’s remains being brought to Santa Clara, originally included on the documentary "Che, a man of this world" (1998) directed by Marcelo Schapces.

Che: Rise and Fall was premiered on National Geographic Channel on June 14, 2007 and has been released on DVD in the USA, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain.