Articulate documentary delivers wild story of political and industrial espionage
The astute Argentine documentary El Crazy Che, directed by Nicolás Iacouzzi and Pablo Chehebar, tells a real life story that could have easily been turned into a tortuous spy film like the ones we all like so much. It tells the story of Guillermo “Bill” Gaede, an Argentine engineer born in Lanús who, during the Cold War and onwards, stole secrets about computer-chip technology from companies in the US such as AMD and INTEL and passed them to the governments of Cuba, China, Iran, and Russia. More precisely, Gaede was responsible for one of the largest — if not the largest — dollar losses ever seen in a high-tech case. We’re talking about US$20 million. Not only that: Gaede eventually switched sides and became an FBI informant and a double agent.
And that’s as much as you need to know for it’s best to discover Gaede’s story, with its many twists and turns, as you watch Iacouzzi’s and Chehebar’s documentary. Not that it plays out like a thriller, which is doesn’t, but nonetheless it hinges on suspense and surprise to tell a story that is as erratic as it is unprecedented.
As you start watching El Crazy Che, you may think you know what’s going to happen and how it’s going to end, and you’d be dead wrong.
The story is intricate, complex and with plenty of information left and right. So in the hands of unskilled filmmakers, the narrative would’ve certainly been confusing and muddy, zigzagging but not for its own good. Fortunately, that’s not the case here. Nicolás Iacouzzi and Pablo Chehebar have created a very articulate, very well organized script which guides viewers into this unknown universe while showing the traits of a unique man who did everything he did out of political conviction. And not for money, as you’d expect.
By resorting to archive footage, informal interviews, appealing animated sequences and useful reenactments, the filmmakers devise a frame from which Bill Gaede emerges — both as a character and a real life fellow. These many resources are utilized just as much as they are needed, never less or more. And it is this precision that also marks the rhythm of the film thanks to its finely tuned editing. Perhaps the most interesting testimony is that of Bill Gaede, who speaks to the camera very informally, sometimes with a mischievous smile, as if he’d been a bad boy.
Never solemn or redundant, El Crazy Che’s story is sometimes so farfetched that it makes you wonder if it really happened the way it’s narrated in the film. Who knows? Most importantly, while watching the movie you may recall the stories by Ian Fleming, which gave way to so many James Bond movies. So I guess you can think of Bill Gaede as an Argentine version of the world famous spy. Especially because just like in James Bond movies, there’s a biting sense of humour here, even if underlying the drama and not out in the open. By the way, El Crazy Che was featured at the Panorama section of BAFICI 2015, where it received a good response from critics and general audiences.
Production notes
El Crazy Che (Argentina, 2015). Directed by Nicolás Iacouzzi, Pablo Chehebar. With Guillermo Bill Gaede, Alejandro Gaede, Esteban Rubinstein, Ricardo Saenz, Esteban Carag-umechian, Etsuko Gaede, Brad Krupsaw, Liliana Fraigi. Cinematography: Alan Badan, Pablo Chehebar, Nicolás Iacouzzi. Editing: Nicolás Iacouzzi, Pablo Chehebar. Drawings: Jorge Conde, Rodrigo Tabarez, Rodolfo Suarez. Animated sequences: Pablo Chehebar, Esteban Debonis, Nicolas Iacouzzi. Running time: 87 minutes.
