Diarios de motocicleta
Tags: avant garde, murder, stupid, dramatic, inspiring, romantic

Plot synopsis:
In 1952, a semester before Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara is due to complete his medical degree, he and his older friend Alberto, a biochemist, leave Buenos Aires in order to travel across the South American continent in search of fun and adventures. While there is a goal at the end of their journey - they intend to work in a leper colony in Peru - the main purpose is tourism. They want to see as much of Latin America as they can, more than 8,000 kilometers (5000 miles) in just a few months, and also bed as many Latin American women as will fall for their pick-up lines. Their initial method of transport is Alberto's ancient and leaky but functional Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa ("The Mighty One").Their route is ambitious. They head south, aim to cross the Andes, travel along the coast of Chile, across the Atacama Desert and into the Peruvian Amazon and reach Venezuela just in time for Alberto's 30th birthday, April 2. Due to La Poderosa's breakdown, they are forced to travel at a much slower pace, and make it to Caracas in July.During their expedition, Guevara and Granado encounter the poverty of the indigenous peasants, and the movie assumes a greater seriousness once the men gain a better sense of the disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots" of Latin America. In Chile, the pleasure travelers encounter a couple forced onto the road because of their communist beliefs. In a fire-lit scene, Ernesto and Alberto admit to the couple that they are not out looking for work as well. The duo accompany the couple to the Chuquicamata copper mine, and Guevara becomes angry at the treatment of the workers. There is also an instance of recognition when Ernesto, on a river ship, looks down at the poor people on the smaller boat hitched behind. Ernesto's connection to people in need is visceral and tactile throughout the film. It shows in the way he smoothes the forehead of a terminally ill woman who cannot afford a proper doctor.However, it is a visit to the Incan ruins of Macchu Picchu that inspires something in Ernesto. He wonders how the highly advanced culture gave way to the urban sprawl of Lima. His reflection is interrupted by Alberto, who shares with him a dream to peacefully revolutionize modern South America. Ernesto quickly responds: "A revolution without guns? It will never work."In Peru, they volunteer for three weeks at the San Pablo leper colony. There, Guevara sees both physically and metaphorically the division of society between the toiling masses and the ruling class (the staff live on the north side of a river, separated from the lepers living on the south). Guevara also refuses to wear rubber gloves during his visit choosing instead to shake bare hands with startled leper inmates.At the end of the film, after his sojourn at the leper colony, Guevara confirms his nascent egalitarian, anti-authority impulses, while making a birthday toast, which is also his first political speech. In it he evokes a pan-Latin American identity that transcends the arbitrary boundaries of nation and race. These encounters with social injustice transform the way Guevara sees the world, and by implication motivates his later political activities as a revolutionary.Guevara makes his symbolic "final journey" that night when despite his asthma, he chooses to swim across the river that separates the two societies of the leper colony, to spend the night in a leper shack, instead of in the cabins of the doctors. This journey implicitly symbolizes Guevara's rejection of wealth and aristocracy into which he was born, and the path he would take later in his life as a guerrilla, fighting for what he believed was the dignity every human being deserves."Wandering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me any more. At least I'm not the same me I was."
~ Guevara at film's endAs they bid each other farewell, Alberto reveals that his birthday was not in fact April 2, but rather August 8, and that the stated goal was simply a motivator: Ernesto replies that he knew all along. The film is closed with an appearance by the true life 82-year-old Alberto Granado, along with pictures from the actual journey and a mention of Che Guevara's eventual 1967 CIA-assisted execution in the Bolivian jungle.source:Wikipedia

Review: Gael Garcia Bernal is completely believable and very human in the role, and there's real chemistry between him and Rodrigo de la Serna (any relation?) who plays his friend Granado, leading to a lot of funny moments-important, as ther are many stretches of the movie where it is just them and the scenery.
This movie is based on the true story that took Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) on a road trip all across and along South America in the 1950's.
The acting of the movie is first class: Gael Garcia Bernal performs at his best; however it is Rodrigo de la Serna's performance the one that is simply outstanding; not only he represents Granado's as a funny, outgoing character, but he also highlights Gael's characterization of Guevara.
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is certainly one of the finest films of the year - a daring, compassionate re-creation of the journey of two young, well-to-do Argentinean lads who leave their privileged positions of biochemist and fourth year Medical student to follow their idea of traveling by motorcycle from their native Buenos Aires down to Patagonia, up through Chile, Peru, Colombia to Venezuela.
Sounds like a light hearted Trip Movie, but instead this journey, factually made by one Ernesto (aka 'Che' and 'Fuser') Guevara de la Serna and his close friend Alberto Granado ('Chubby'), is one of the most touching and sensitive passages into self acceptance and awareness of the world as a place where equality of people is a microscopic speck of illusion that is revealed by a carefully constructed script by Jose Rivera based on the diaries of both of these men made during and after their journey.
Walter Salles ("Behind the Sun", "Central Station") once again proves himself a director who can infuse his vision of a story with uncomplicated directness of approach, having the sensitivity to allow his well-chosen actors to create wholly believable, three-dimensional characters, whether the actors are the leads or simply minor roles that hold the camera's eye for seconds.Taken as simply a movie to enjoy, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is as beautiful as a National Geographic Magazine feature on the Amazon and the deserted and populated lands of South America.
No more need be said.Gael Garcia Bernal gives an incredibly thoughtful, stunning portrayal of Che, saying so much more with his eyes, his body language (especially as he suffers through his own physical demon of asthma attacks), and his perfect embodiment of the spirit of a man who becomes enlightened by the peasants he comes to love.
Few, including this reviewer, really knew much more about the firebrand revolutionist who was a comrade in Cuban arms with Fidel Castro in a crusade that led to his eventual capture and execution by the CIA as a notorious fly-in-the-ointment career criminal.However new insight  albeit a few shades of grey and free styling dramatic license intact  depicts a twenty something medical student named Ernesto Guevera da la Serna, a South American native (memorably portrayed by the ever soulful Bernal, in a truly outstanding breakthrough performance) who partners with his best friend Alberto Granado (strongly supportive De la Serna) on a trek by motorcycle (a battered 1939 Norton to be exact) an 800 plus mile quest from Argentina up thru the upper regions of Peru with nothing but a few provisions and even less dinero.Relying on their bonhomie, make-shift surroundings and clever improvisation the odd couple manage to get to Ernesto's girlfriend's nouveau riche family where he tells the lovely Chichina Ferreyra (the fetching Maestro) that he wants her to wait for him but knows in his heart this is more than likely never to be.After several humorous encounters along the fray the duo finally have to give up their trusty vehicle after many hardships and torrential weather obstacles to go on foot then finally on ferry to their destination: an internship with a leper colony.
Along the way the duo meet many disenfranchised and impoverished fellow countrymen and their women and families and with each soul-crushing pit-stop you can feel the stirrings of ire catching fire within the young man who will become Che Guevera.Salles, who directed the exceptional CENTRAL STATION, smartly allows his two fine actors plenty of room to get into the skins of their funny, fighting and deep souled characters while enlisting the picturesque surroundings of the lush and jaw-droppingly beautiful playas, mountains and countryside (exquisitely rendered by ace cinematographer Eric Gautier) and underlies the proceedings with a hauntingly stirring score by Gustavo Santaolalla.
Going into this movie all I knew about him was that he is on a lot of t-shirts, and that "che", despite what ignorant people think, is not his name, it is what Argentinians say to each other like in the US saying "dude".I am also a big fan of the purity of movies, not this Spider-man crap that is all over the place, but the true art of films, and I am fairly serious when I go into a movie for the first time.
That said, I believe this movie was excellent because it had superb cinematography of the beauty of South America, had excellent acting, great chemistry between the two main actors (despite Ebert saying they did not), and an overall political theme.This movie did not get great reviews in the US, and I haven't seen reviews from Latin American countries, but I am guessing they are better.
This is a much bigger and important example than the movie, but it is the same bias involved: People in the United States (I don't say America because that refers to every country from Argentina to Canada, not just the US as people in this country like to think) not only don't care about the suffering of people in other countries (unless it's mentioned on Oprah or involves economic rewards) but have the nerve to call them evil when they try to better themselves, which at the time was the communist movement in South America.
This is not the communism of Castro or even of the later Che Guevara, but simply to give more to the starving and suppressed that are today suppressed to make your bananas and Starbucks coffee.Because of the biases people have towards the people of countries they know nothing about, this movie has been extremely underrated in the wake of films that comparatively suck ("Ray", way overrated) yet have been rewarded because of their popularity and appeasement to the ignorant people that attend theaters in the United States..
Newcomer, Rodrigo De La Serna, also gives an excellent performance.Regardless of your politics and personal views of Che, you will walk away from this movie feeling a bit better about humanity.
The scenery throughout Latin America is beautiful and the two leads are very affecting, especially Gael García Bernal as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna when "Che" is still nascent.
Mostly just leaving his sheltered life, particularly being dropped by his wealthy girlfriend, and seeing the continent, especially his first exposure to the indigenous peoples who suffer the most in every South American country even while tourists are visiting the ruins of their ancestors, becomes the nexus of his pan-continental political ideals.He is mostly an observer and inconsistent protester of injustice, not a victim -- it's startling that his culminating noble sojourn at the leper colony, where he can put his skills and indivisible warmth to specific good, is only for three weeks.
These ideas I'm sure would make viewers aspire to be like the central characters to go out and explore the world and that was a reason why I personally loved this drama, because it gives inspiration to the audience and really moves them in a way which will leave you completely spellbound.
Audiences see job issues, money problems and country matters which all juxtapose perfectly to capture the essence of the time and crate a high realism in context of the timeThe acting by everyone involved is absolutely outstanding and it confused me when not one received an Oscar nomination because Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna are remarkable as the two travellers.
The real quality of the film is that through a subtle, engaging, fun tale allows the audience to connect with a period where change, personal and internal, was possible, and where there was hope for a fairer future.For anyone like myself from Argentina, part of a generation that were there and young at the time, the film evokes just that starting point.
The story of the romantic process of consciousness of Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna of the situation of Latin America, ruled by injustice and exploration by the great nations, through a road trip with his best friend Alberto Granado, is spectacular.
Rarely does a film convey such great thematic depth as in "The Motorcycle Diaries", a true-life story about two twenty-something, idealistic guys from Buenos Aires who, in 1952, embark on a 5,000 mile trip through five South American countries, "to explore a continent (they) had only known in books".Alberto (Rodrigo De la Serna), a biochemist, is jovial, rascally, fudges the truth a bit, and talks too much.
From every point of view this movie is very good: actors are great, location are *wonderful* (I want to go to Cile!!!:)) and the shots ("riprese" in italian) are very original and help to completely involve yourself in that spectacular world.
Others are more evident: the river-crossing scene is absolutely unforgivable (and this whether Guevara really swam through the river or not), the political and social aspects of the film are downplayed and, when they are played at all, they are with a naiveté that borders with a populist "good feeling" (what the Italians used to call, some ten years ago, "il buonismo.") Gael Garcia Bernal is a solid actor, and this film confirms it, but we are far away from the performance in "El crime del Padre Amaro." One can even glimpse the early symptoms of Tarantinism (a disease that I named after Quentin Tarantino: a great director who is, however, so busy being Quentin Tarantino that his life seems not to have much space for anything else.)But, as I said, all in all, the story is good, the film keeps moving, the South American landscape is beautiful, the Argentinian accent is deliciously musical.
Whatever your preconceptions about Che Guevara going into it, this movie portrays him as a young man who, in the event of leaving his home town indefinitely for the first time, develops a strong social conscience.
Whether it stayed that way the more power he found himself wielding is highly debatable and ultimately a moot point for the journey of discovery in which the film immerses us.The movie is not so much about the completed ideals that so many who have studied history will be familiar with, but rather studies the process of how travelling away from one's natural environment can shape those thoughts and influence the choices it will cause them to put into action for the future.
The story is not only about a journey through Latin America, but mostly about a spiritual journey, about how Che Guevara found his place in the world, and how he realized how important he could be in many ways to many people.
Before he christened himself as "Che," Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael Garcia Bernal) was a middle-class, asthmatic medical student from Buenos Aires who, in 1952 with his biochemist friend, Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) set off on a journey across South America on a dilapidated motorcycle.
If only they had done the same for Che. While watching Diarios de Motocicleta I couldn't help but think about another Spanish-language coming-of-age film starring Gael Garcia about two friends who embark on a journey that will change their lives; I would recommend to anyone to rent Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien instead of sitting through two hours of "white liberal self-affirmation." I'm certain Che would disapprove of the idea of paying to see a film about him, anyway..
In 1952, 23 year old medical student Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael García Bernal) later known as Che Guevara decides to spend 4 months to ride around South America with 29 year old biochemist friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) on an old beat-up motorcycle.
After seeing Gael Garcia Bernal in "Y Tu Mama Tambien", I was excited about the possibilities here - a road-movie portrait of the early, influential life of Che Guevara with Bernal inhabiting this role.Yikes!
Being a student of Hispanic culture, I have acquired a great deal of knowledge of South America, and this film sums up all the worst (and most interesting) atrocities that come to pass in this seemingly forgotten corner of the globe.Ernesto Guevara's compassion is well portrayed throughout the film, and shows the side of him that is a huge contrast to his stereotypical image; the evil communist that was ruthless in his guerrilla warfare.
He helped inspire terrorists throughout Latin America who killed thousands but effected no improvement in the lives of the people there.By presenting him sympathetically, this movie whitewashes Che's real history.
Diarios de motocicleta is a road movie in which the Young Che Guevara discovers south America "with is own eyes"...
Characters are vividly and naturally portrayed by the two protagonists, Gael García Bernal (Ernesto 'Che' Guevara De La Serna) and Rodrigo De La Serna (Alberto Granado).
it was an amazing experience.Here, the story of Che Gueverra's and his best friend Alberto Granado's trip through beautiful South America.
Gael Garcia Bernal shows that he is one of the best actors of our generation giving a beautiful performance of what could have been the journey that change forever the life of an icon of the size of Ernesto Che Guevara.
Also he is surrounded by the best team, from wonderful actors like Rodrigo de la Serna to the enormous team of crew that made this movie one of the most beautiful and well done movies of this last decade in Latin America, also I have to thank the director and the writers the ones that really made a gorgeous work by showing the world all the beauty, poverty, strenght and traditions of these culture and reminding us the great potential that our countries have and that is really underestimate by all of us, you did a great job 5 / 5.
The emotionally touching parts of the story (i.e. when Che is enlightened little by little and realizes the terrible living conditions of the poor and lower class peoples of latin America) had even more impact on me when I watched the film than they had when I read the book.
As a movie, I think it does a very good job of narrating the story of socialawakenings...1952 is a year of awakening not only for Che and his friendAlberto, but also a moment of awakening for Latin America as a continent.
This film about the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his buddy Alberto Granado may inspire people to commit to do something that matters at some point in their lives.
Walter Salles' (Central Station, co-produced City of God) new film tells the story of the young Ernesto 'Che' Guevara's voyage around South America with his friend Alberto 'Mial' Granado, and the discoveries and personal journey made during the 12000km+ trip.
The movies about Che Guevara on a road trip with his friend and the lousy, but important, motorcycle, who takes them around South America.Not the best movie I've seen.
I actually thought it was kinda boring at times, and even though I like the revolutionary Che Guevara, this still wasn't my movie.But, it contained some lines who were hilarious and some fun scenes, and the film had overall a nice tone, but never the less, it didn't give me as much as I expected it too.
"The Motorcycle Diaries" tells an earlier story, before Cuba's revolution or the changing world of the 1960s in which Che played a role.In January, 1952, Argentinian medical student Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his friend, biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna, Che's real life second cousin), decided to go on a motorcycle trip across South America.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a film that tells the story of a young Che Guevara and his friend, Alberto, when they decided to womanise and bluff their way across South America on an old motorcycle.
Years before the actions that would make him famous and ultimately lead to his death, doctor-in-training Ernesto Guevara de la Serna set off on a motorcycle trip to cover the length of South America  taking in all the countries and volunteering in several medical clinics with his close friend Alberto Granado.
The film is well shot, well acted and the story is easy to understand and you really sympathize with Che and Alberto's plight: Trying to unite south america under Marxist rule for the greater good.
RELEASED IN 2004 and directed by Walter Salles, "The Motorcycle Diaries" chronicles events in 1952 South America when 23 year-old medical student Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara (Gael García Bernal) and 29 year-old Alberto "Mial" Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) embark on an 8000 km trek across the continent from Argentina thru Chile, Peru and finishing in Venezuela.
This is much more than the standard road movie you may mistake it for.Despite the money issues, job worries and political unrest of the era, it is a picture-perfect-postcard showcase of Latin America in the 1950s.It is also a fascinating portrait of a middle class, idealistic young-man, at the beginning of his journey from adolescence to revolutionary.In short, this is a film that truly inspires.Divorced Dads Cinema Club Rating 90% – Important, quietly brilliant and essential viewing.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a "road movie" about the journey of a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto though South America.
This film is both funny at times,..and also quite sad and makes you reflect on what Che was thinking about when he travelled the diverse land of South America.