Cannes '08: 'Che' and the Palme d'Or

As the Festival de Cannes enters its final days, only two thoughts occupy the minds of exhausted moviegoers: Can I survive until my plane/train/automobile gets me out of here,  and which film will win the Palme d'Or?     

Unlike the Oscar voters, who have a lengthy track record of actions, film festival juries are by definition one-off groups whose choices are thus almost impossible to predict. Not that that stops people from trying to read the tea leaves and guessing at results.

Complicating things, as often happens at Cannes, is the late arrival of a contender, "The Class," by France's Laurent Contet, best known for 2001's "Time Out." But would this powerfully and unexpectedly emotional examination of a middle school class in a tough Parisian neighborhood pass muster with a jury chaired by Sean Penn, who announced at the festival's start that he was looking for works in which "the filmmaker is very aware of the times in which he lives."

That political sentiment leads some people to think that Steven Soderbergh's hefty "Che" has a chance. A two-part examination of the life of the guerrilla leader that clocks in at an ungainly 4 hours and 28 minutes, "Che" is as problematic a film as the festival has produced. It's hard to argue with Benecio del Toro in the leading role or even with Soderbergh's direction from moment to moment. But the film's length and its determination to be as anti-dramatic as possible are perplexing, to say the least. It's rare to say a film would be improved if it was cut in half, but this may be just such a case.       

Gaining more traction as a dark-horse candidate is the Israeli animated documentary, "Waltzing With Bashir," which deals with Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon in an often surreal way. It's aesthetically adventurous and politically committed, which may be the combination this jury is looking for. Or maybe not.

-- Kenneth Turan

(Photo courtesy Bickford/Morena Films Production)