She chose revolution over love, then lost both. The true story they buried.
GDR 1961: Tamara Bunke, daughter of Jewish exiles from Argentina, not only falls for the political goals of the rousing revolutionary Che Guevara during a state visit. She also meets Ulises Estrada, the commandant of Che's team. Ignited by the fire of the revolution, she gets involved in a diabolical espionage deal with the Stasi in order to cheat her way out of Cuba. In Cuba, she ends up caught between all fronts: under the watchful eye of the Stasi, which expects results from her, but in reality solely dedicated to Che's revolution, Tamara allows herself to be trained as a double spy by Che's troops. At the same time, her honest love grows for Commandante Ulises, who eventually gives her the choice of following her personal happiness and going into hiding rather than following Che's plans to liberate South America, which by now he considers a suicide mission. An unresolvable, deeply tragic conflict that ends fatally for Tamara in the battle of Bolivia's Rio Grande..
Acting
Mercedes Müller carries Tamara's impossible choices in her shoulders
Production
East German-Cuban co-production captures humid, paranoid 1960s authenticity
Writing
Refuses to make Tamara simply heroic or foolish—she's maddeningly human
Director
Elmar Fischer
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Tamara Bunke was erased from GDR history until 1990; this 2017 film marks her slow re-entry into German cultural memory.
Director Elmar Fischer shot in Cuba with surviving veterans who knew the real Tamara, some of whom refused to call her by her codename.
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