The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta)
On my list of celebrities I want to run away with is Gael Garcia Bernal, and his performance in The Motorcycle Diaries invokes a spirit and vivacity that is rarely seen onscreen. Bernal plays Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna alongside Rodrigo De la Serna who plays Che’s closest ally Alberto Granado.
While a Che Guevara poster in ubiquitous in many college dorms, the revolutionaries story may seldom be heard. The Motorcycle Diariestakes a look back at the epic journey across South America that turned Che into the man he would become. Both Che and Alberto left as hungry medical students eager to earn medical credentials, but the journey ends and both men know their calling is different.
The poverty and social injustices seen on the trip, particularly with indigenous populations, and the village of lepers he helped.
Some rant that the film white washes communism, but to Andrew L. Urban, a reviewer from Australian film site Urban Cinefile, the film reminds him personally of his experience as an 11 year old in Hungary’s 1956 Communist revolution. Though the two revolutions are diametrically opposed , the author says “a genuine social conscience is what is at the root of both revolutions. For those oppressed, left or right makes no difference; both are enemies of human rights and personal liberty.”
For this reason, the film was handled sensitively and thus directed by Walter Salles, winner of the Sundance-NHK Cinema Grant.
Executive producer Robert Redford said “I knew Walter would handle the story with lyricism and humanity rather than focusing on the politics of who Ernesto would later become.”
Salles wanted the film to exude the virtues of adventure, exploration, and hope that one can change the world they exist in.
The film does accomplish this goal, but it is not ridden with drama or darkness. Light pervades the film through scenes which shows the two friends goofing off and chasing women, or cursing their rusty and dilapidated bike. Shot mostly in Argentina, Chile and Peru, the story is set against a beautiful landscape that brings this memoir to life.
Sources:
The Motorcycle Diaries. (2004). Retrieved March 23, 2009, from Focus Features The Motorcycle Diaries Web site: http://www.motorcyclediariesmovie.com/home.html
Urban, A. (2009). Motorcycle Diaries, The.Retrieved March 23, 2009, from Urban Cinefile Web site: http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?Article_ID=9755
