Title: Che’s Rosary
Genre: Historical Drama / Political Thriller / Spiritual Romance
Setting: October 1962, Cuba – primarily within a volcanic cave system turned nuclear bunker near Havana.
Starring:
- Felipe Coronel as Che Guevara
- Rosario Dawson as Alejandra, Che’s spiritual confidante and lover
Movie Treatment:
Logline:
In the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, revolutionary Che Guevara and his secret companion Alejandra retreat into a fortified cave bunker with a Soviet nuclear warhead overhead. As the world teeters on the edge of annihilation, the couple finds themselves praying the Rosary—not as a ritual of surrender, but as a last spiritual weapon against judgment day.
Act I: Days 1–4 – Shadows and Shields
The film opens with archival footage and stylized recreations of the Cold War tensions. The U.S. spy planes capture images of Soviet missile silos in Cuba. President Kennedy initiates the blockade. Fidel Castro calls for military readiness. But in the volcanic hills outside Havana, a secret bunker—built by Soviet engineers into the side of an extinct volcano—houses a single warhead and two unexpected occupants: Che Guevara and Alejandra.
Che, gaunt but resolute, knows his tuberculosis is worsening. Alejandra, a revolutionary nurse with mystical leanings and a devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe, brings him medicine, poetry—and a battered wooden rosary she smuggled out of Mexico.
In whispered candlelight, she urges Che to pray the Rosary with her. At first, he scoffs. “Prayers are for those who’ve surrendered to fear,” he says. But when the radio crackles with talk of invasion and the heat of nuclear war looms, even Che begins to question his dialectical materialism.
Act II: Days 5–9 – Temptation of Fire
The bunker walls drip with moisture, but the tension inside burns. Alejandra and Che debate revolution and religion, apocalypse and faith. She tells him that even revolutionaries must answer to a higher Judge—and that judgment might come in fire from the sky. The missile in the next room glows like a sleeping dragon.
Flashbacks reveal Che’s transformation—from medical student to guerilla to global symbol of resistance. Alejandra sees through it all, calling him by his birth name, Ernesto, and reminding him of his humanity.
Outside, Soviet officers argue with Cuban commanders. One Soviet colonel, a Christian in secret, sneaks in to deliver communion wafers to Alejandra, risking execution. The couple kneels. Che’s hand, once clenched in a fist, now trembles on the rosary beads.
On Day 7, Castro calls Che via radio, asking if the missile is operational. Che doesn’t answer. He and Alejandra begin a fast. They pray all fifteen mysteries of the Rosary each day—offering their penance for the sins of the age: pride, greed, vengeance, fear.
Act III: Days 10–13 – Smoke and Mercy
As the crisis nears its climax, U-2 planes fly closer. Kennedy and Khrushchev exchange final ultimatums. One wrong move, one hotheaded general, and it’s the end. In the cave, Che and Alejandra embrace between Hail Marys and hold each other like it’s their last night on Earth.
On Day 12, a coded message arrives: Khrushchev is considering Kennedy’s terms. There may be peace—but only if all nuclear missiles are removed. Che is torn. “Does that mean our revolution was just a pawn? Were we only leverage?”
Alejandra kisses him. “Maybe your fight was never about missiles or Marx. Maybe it was about this moment. Choosing mercy.”
Che, with tears in his eyes, finishes the final decade of the Rosary aloud—“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
But there is no death.
On Day 13, October 28, 1962, the deal is made. The world breathes. The missiles are withdrawn.
Epilogue:
Years later, long after Che’s death in Bolivia, an aged Alejandra walks barefoot through the now-empty bunker cave, her rosary still in hand. She places a candle beneath a faded Soviet plaque, and we hear Che’s voice in narration:
“The future is not made by those who carry weapons alone, but by those who dare to kneel.”
Fade to black. A final title card reads:
“For thirteen days, the fate of the world hung by a thread—and a prayer.”
Themes:
- Faith vs. Revolution – Can prayer coexist with radical change?
- Love in the Shadow of Doom – A tender human story against a nuclear backdrop.
- The Rosary as Weapon – A symbol of spiritual resistance to global annihilation.
Visual Style:
- Muted, volcanic tones inside the cave.
- Archival newsreel inserts with dreamlike transitions.
- Intimate candlelit scenes in contrast to the sterile glow of the missile.
Director’s Vision:
A spiritual-political chamber piece with apocalyptic stakes and intimate emotion. Che’s Rosary will evoke The Passion of Joan of Arc meets Thirteen Days, with undertones of The Thin Red Line’s meditations on war and grace.
