The Motorcycle Diaries (Widescreen Edition) Reviews

• "On the Road" with Che Guevara

  
  By A16QODENBJVUI1 on 2004-10-03
  As most potential viewers know, this film is based on diaries and letters to home written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara during a motorcycle and foot tour of a significant portion of South America during the early 1950s, years before Guevara achieved international renown as a Communist and Latino revolutionary. Thus, the film functions as an attempt to get at the heart of the person who preceded the myth. The film is therefore difficult to judge as pure cinema. Is this, on its own merits, a great film? Or is it a great film about Che Guevara? Interestingly, the person I saw this film with knew absolutely nothing about the subject of the film before it started, and did not connect Ernesto Guevara with Che Guevara until very late in the film. Her reaction was interesting. Until she realized that it was about Che, she says that she considered it a decent but only slightly above average "road" picture, but it gained considerably in her estimation once she realized who the film was about. I think she was correct, and I would agree with those who feel that what merits the film has depends to some degree on who the film is about. If Ernesto hadn't become Che, it would be a good film but of considerably less interest than it is.
  
  The film does a good job of rooting Che's eventual concern with the liberation of the oppressed by depicting his broad and constant encounters with everyday people throughout the continent. Camus wrote that it was important to side with the victims and not the executioners, and in his travels Ernesto spends most of his time with the victims. His near-epic exposure to the continent clearly condition his sympathies and inform his vision. At the end of the film it is easy to understand why Che chose a life dedicated to aiding the oppressed in Cuba and elsewhere. The great question left unanswered, and the one reason one can find Che's life morally troubling, is why he felt that the causes he espoused demanded a violent, military response. Why follow in the steps of Trotsky and Lenin rather than Gandhi? Apart from a single line which merely hints that Che felt violence might be necessary, the film doesn't come anywhere close to answering this question.
  
  In many ways, the star of the film is the South American continent. I have seen many films over the years set in one corner of the continent or another, but none provided a panoramic view. This film, however, by swinging through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Columbia, and Venezuela provides a graphic impression of the continent's immense geographical diversity, expanse, and enormous beautiful. I don't think it would be possible to see this film without a deep urge to visit the land. The scene shot in Machu Picchu reveals the incredible beauty of the site better than anything else I have ever seen.
  
  Gael Garcia Bernal is a remarkably handsome, talented young actor, formerly best known for one of the two young men in Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, and is outstanding in portraying the young Che Guevara. One suspects that his days as an actor in primarily Latin productions is close to an end, his next several projects originating in Hollywood. Rodrigo De la Serna does not have the enormous charisma of Bernal, but he more than holds his own in the film. The cast is rounded out by a large roster of professional and amateur performers.
  
  Che Guevara is such a controversial figure that this film could elicit a host of differing responses. How one will respond to this film will be deeply conditioned by how one views him. But I do think that it is a film that virtually every viewer will respond to with great interest, and I defy anyone not to find the remarkable landscapes anything short of stunning.
  
  

• A YOUTHFUL, ROMANTIC VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY. TAKE IT AS SUCH

  
  By A1L8HRCM60W0W7 on 2004-10-27
  I don't get some of the ranting reviews here that claim this movie has communist contours; there's as much radicalism in this film as there is Oriental Buddhism in Jackie Chan kungfu capers.
  
  I never felt that the movie couches any fiery or didactic political message, or that it even ought to.
  
  It's a romantic ode to the youthful Guevara, and truly captures the adventurism and empathy of his formative years that may have affected him in later life. The director is wise not to weigh his narrative down with too many explicit allusions to his eventual activist zeal.
  
  Whatever it's political underpinnings, at least it's a gorgeous looking picture, a trekker's fantasy that catalogs the ramshackle journey of a couple of young men who hailed from good stock, but gave all that up to set off on a rinkydink motorcycle to see places they'd only read about and meet people they'd never imagined.
  
  It is difficult not to fall in love with the stunning imagery that pervades the film, as we watch a neorealistic camera cut a vast Latin American skein from the snow-covered Andes, to the mysterious ruins of Machu Picchu, to a sprawling Chilean desert and a Peruvian river that the young Guevara swims across in the film's climax -- all physical destinations to be reached and crossed as well as stages in our protagonist's spiritual and psychological growth.
  
  Some traces of ham-handedness may be evident in the latter half, when Guevara speaks with a homeless person or a coarse day labor manager or an ostracized leper. But Bernal does a fabulous job of maintaining a perfect dose of traveler's passivity coupled with boyish inquisitiveness.
  
  Thinking back, the movie could also have thrown in some measure of a conclusive message into the fray, but the guitar strumming that serves as a backdrop to the closing credits simply overtakes that thought in my mind. I'm off to buy the soundtrack as soon as I am done with this review.
  
  I highly recommend it for the discerning viewer. Won't be surprised if this gets in line for those nude male statuettes.
  
  

• Brilliant acting, breathtaking landscapes & music, touching

  
  By A1IANEBSMVGHS9 on 2005-05-04
  This is a road movie about Ernesto "Che" Guevara, before his "political" times. Actually, it is fair to say that it depicts in a romantic way the road trip through the heart of South America that opened him up to the things to come later. He embarks on a 10K+ KM journey with his buddy Alberto Granado, riding "La Poderosa" (The Powerful One), an oil-leaking motorcycle, going from Argentina to Venezuela, through Chile, Peru and Colombia.
  
  The performance by Gael Garcia Bernal, once more, does not dissapoint, turning him into one of the most versatile (yet controversial) actors of this generation. The music by Gustavo Santaolalla is breathtaking, becoming a perfect match for the monumental South American landscapes (think Andes, Amazon river...). The movie as a whole leaves you feeling good in the end. Highly recommendable.
  
  

• A Myopic Look at an Iconic Figure

  
  By A2ATWKOFJXRRR1 on 2005-11-27
  This is a tough review to write because of the subject matter we're dealing with: a militant revolutionary who became Castro's right-hand man during the 1959 Cuban revolt. But here in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES film, we don't see this man; we see instead the formation of the person whom this man (Ernesto "Che" Guevara played by the talented Gael García Bernal)would become. He's a young idealist living in South America when he and a friend (Alberto Granado played by up-and-coming actor Rodrigo de la Serna) decide to take a road trip across the continent before bellying down into their chosen carriers in medicine.
  
  The film succeeds in giving us a very myopic view of these two men: Guevara for the initial changes he begins to go through as he witnesses injustices to the low and poor; Granado for his love of women and grudging dedication to Guevara. We travel with them on a 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle (my hat's off to the two actors who had to ACTUALLY learn to ride one of these behemoths!) as they argue with each other over money, their deficient form of transportation, and Guevara's unflinching honesty when asked delicate questions (this is brought into focus when they first meet a man - who looks very German - in a small village and asks Che and Granado to look at a lump on his neck, which Granado diagnoses as a cyst but Che calls a tumor).
  
  The cinematography was done exceptionally well on a small budget. The beauty of Machu Picchu, the green forests of Peru, the nothingness of various deserts, all added great visuals for the viewer.
  
  The film's faults lay with its omissions. Yes, Che was a thinking man. Yes, Che was concerned with humanity as a whole. But Che was also somewhat of a bigot. He didn't like blacks, jews, and homosexuals (read the book THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES). So when he shows his concern for lepers in a colony along the Amazon River, we're only see a part of this complex man. Granted, for a film you need to have your audience empathize with the main character, but this also pulls us into the shallow end of the depths that this man was. The convoluted sections of Che's life might have added an extra level of understanding for film viewers, especially those who have knowledge of his later life when he becomes an executioner of spies and deserters, quite a dichotomy compared to the hippocratic oath he took when becoming a doctor - the oath basically promising to "do no harm."
  
  But, again, I can understand why the film makers decided to omit these sections. We are, after all, seeing only the early life of Che, a fomenting of ideas that would change his life forever. But I think we have to be careful when looking at such a potentially volatile subject and controversial man, and only showing the "sunnier" side of Che to a new generation of movie-goers. More research is needed if one really wishes to understand the levels of Che.
  
  

• An Eloquent Whitewash

  
  By AKP4CTYBEPAK7 on 2005-05-26
  I saw this really cool movie about Charles Manson when he was a boy, riding a bike, helping people he met along the way, volunteering at a leper colony, charming the ladies, flashing that winning smile, etc. The movie may have glossed over his bitter racism and his intense homophobia a bit, and it did go far out of its way to paint Mr. Manson in a positive light (e.g., by adding a completely contrived and fictional "gloves off" scene in a leper colony that never happened). Had you not known the name, you might have thought that he went on to be some kind of heroic figure or great humanitarian...not a mass murderer who enjoyed and savored his victims' pain or a delusional megalomaniac who equated wholesale slaughter with revolution.
  
  Oh, wait, did I say "Manson?" Sorry, I meant "Guevarra." Not that it matters. Different name, same meaning.
  
  The Motorcycle Diaries is about a man who personally oversaw and took pleasure in dozens of mass executions in Cuba and Latin America (and ordered hundreds more). It's about a man who once personally and without trial executed a hungry child for stealing food. About a man who led bands of armed thugs into peaceful, isolated villages and killed any male who refused to join his "revolutionary army." Che founded Cuba's "labor camp" system-the system that was eventually employed to incarcerate and torture (and often execute) [...], political opponents, religious clerics and AIDS victims. He lobbied Khrushchev and Castro to launch a first-strike nuclear attack on the US from Cuba. The "passion" that drove this man was ultimately not a passion for justice, but just a passion for killing. The fact that Che committed all these unspeakable atrocities ostensibly to effect social change is no defense: after all, you could say the same about Charles Manson.
  
  Don't take my word for any of this. You can judge Che from his own hateful words: "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."
  
  If that's not enough, how about another Che gem: "Hatred as an element of struggle; unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine - this is what our soldiers must become."
  
  In this age of depravity-worship, it is no surprise that this movie is considered Oscar-worthy. Our impressionable young should take their history lessons from sources other than Hollywood movies.
  
  Thousands of men and women have gone on life-affirming road trips as young men and had madcap misadventures, learning about the world and about themselves in the process. So let's face it: the only thing that sets Che's odyssey apart is that Che subsequently went on to become a "cold-blooded killing machine." Others have taken similar journeys and have gone on to dedicate themselves to ending world hunger or healing the sick. Why not make a movie about them? But instead this movie lionizes a man capable of saying AND LIVING BY Che's hateful words. Should such a man be admired, memorialized in cinema and t-shirts, and held up as a role model for those seeking justice? No more than Charles Manson should.
  
  Save your money and your time and your dignity. Respect the dead. Watch something else.
  
  
  
  
• Lets not be stupid
  By A2396AXY0F7PDV on 2005-04-13
  To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary," Carroll would have heard from the chief executioner, named Ernesto "Che" Guevara. "These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the paredon! (The Wall)"
  
  "Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"
  
  This is from Che Guevara's very Motorcycle Diaries--the very diaries just made into this heartwarming film by Robert Redford--again, the only film to get that whooping' 'hollerin, standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival (by the same people who say to oppose capital punishment,etc,you know the type). Seems that Redford omitted this inconvenient portion of Che's diaries form his touching film.
  
  His models were Lenin, Dzerzhinsky and Stalin. This was the same man who along with Fidel Castro, begged Nikita Khrushchev to launch a Soviet nuclear attack against the U.S. at the height of the 1962 missile crisis. In his book "Che Guevara: A Biography," Daniel James writes that Che himself admitted to ordering "several thousand" executions during the first few years of the Castro regime: Guevara made it a policy for his men to parade the families and friends of the executed before the blood, bone and brain-spattered paredon.
  
  This is no Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or Bob Marley as they want people to think. Having a movie of such manipulation and distortion of who this man really was is not only a waste of time and another communist founded lie, but is also very infuriating. This savior image a communist fomented lie that has obtained legs of its own, thanks to ignorant monkeys who don't know who is on their T- Shirts, (they just do it because others do it). And even those who defend him don't go to live as a Cuban in the communist Cuba he implemented an applauded; where you are sent to jail for speaking with a foreigner, growing your own food, or going from one part of the country to another without government permission. It is even a crime to swim in the beach (of their own country) if there are tourists, etc.
  When there is talk about freedom and fairness the last face I want to see is Che's. Actions speak louders than words,and agony and innocent blood deserves more respect. This movie is a manipulation, a shame, and a waste of time.
  
  
  
• Disgraceful
  By A68KPG1R5EUUD on 2006-04-13
  As the grandson of a farmer who was made to dig his own grave and then was shot in the back of the head at Che's command, I find this canonization of Che to be an utter disgrace. Thank God my parents and I made it to America where I can be free, I can have access to the internet, and I can speak without fear. I only wish my dead grandfather, my dead uncle, my dead aunt, and my imprisoned and tortured cousins could have been afforded the same basic human dignity.
  
  
• Romanticizing a socialist mass murderer.
  By A3R00Q0H430Z7X on 2005-03-21
  Is this a romantic well directed movie? Yes it is. It is ultimately morally bankrupt because it romanticizes a man who may have been an idealistic youth. That young man grew up to become a mass murderer. He became a man responsible for the loss of freedom of millions of human beings. Decades of oppression, injustice and tyranny are the fruits of Ernesto Guevara's actions. The young man in this film is the same man who set up an apartment over the execution grounds in Havana so he could listen to gunshots as innocent people were murdered for being opposed to Castro because it pleased him. Ernesto Guevara deserves a place in hell. Not made into a romantic hero. This is what we should expect from Hollywood though. I'm sure that soon some Hollywood socialist will make movies of the romantic wonderful lives of Stalin, Mao, Hitler and other twentieth century socialists.
  
  
• Travelogue into Tragedy
  By A1K1609GB49BLX on 2005-04-18
  There are many reasons one would like to give five stars to this film: the writing and acting, costuming, music, the engaging cinematography. Even the interviews with the Chilean indegenas incorporated into the screenplay, though not in the book, are so spontaneous as to be convincing. And I could even give stars for the "historical fiction" portions of the film, so many of them having been added, replacing the author's diary experiences.
  
  That said, the problem with this film is that it is absent the truth. Not much research would have been required to truthfully establish the mental condition of the protagonist. At this time of his life, his education was troubled, his personality and sexual identity ambiguous. Symptomatic of these protean divisions was that he wore in those days the same soiled shirt day after day, what he called the "shirt of the week," his offensive trademark body odor disenchanting his friends, and especially his colleague students of the medical school.
  
  Given his mother's 22 years of narcissism and her control over Ernesto, and his father's flamboyant philandering and failure in odd business ventures, so weak was the wiring of his mental grid into which to integrate a personality. His mother's control was such that his failure in Miramar to receive the hand of Chichina, a high school-aged girl, was a self-fulfilling prophecy, heightened by his stink, a loss desired and manipulated by his mother purposefully approving his adolescent behavior of not bathing. If a giddy teeny-bopper will not love a boy who smells on purpose, Chichina or any other, such a neurotic, self-obsessive madre will. This is the benefit of being wed to one's mother.
  
  The film is poignant, however, even as fiction. For as we know Ernesto's mental decline over the course of his remaining few years, it is sad to reflect that the adolescent portrayed in the movie is experiencing the last rational days of his life. For not ten years will pass before his catalogue of neuroses grows to such weight that it cracks into psychotic rage in battle. He obtains license to kill. That most basic of psychological identifiers, his name, is displaced by a nickname which is not even a diminutive, but a meaningless jibe at the Argentine vocal tic, 'che', conferred upon him by the equally sexually ambiguous Fidel Castro. Fidel replaces his mother, his new controller. The grateful Che writes love poetry to his Fidel.
  
  After the revolution, the only mental mechanism by which he may justify his recent homicidal euphoria in war is to accept and revel in his first position as director and judge of the political revenge court at La Cabana. Being entrusted with this task by the new mother is all the approbation his battered and subservient ego needs to convince himself that he really is a good dog. This is all the permission he needs to execute so many thousands of political prisoners, and to create his very own boys club, all under the same roof. How thin a mental membrane lay between the desires for death and sex!
  
  A little later in his short life, after a succession of administrative disasters and his several exiles by Fidel, he fails again at warfare in Africa. In his psychological immobilization becoming unacceptable even to himself, he changes his appearance, shaving his head. He takes on a new persona, displacing the old, frustrated Che with yet another new name. His natural mother now dead, his replacement mother having become reticent, Ernesto by any name must now become his own mother. And this is his final failure.
  
  But he will have one terminal success. His mothers must be punished. He poorly plans a revolution in Bolivia, to which he rushes, advertizing his location. He is successful at something in that he creates his total immolation, his self-disintegration by suicide at the hands of others.
  
  If this film passes for truth without further consideration of who Ernesto was before the bike ride, and what that boy would become, then we need to make it the first in a series glamorizing the adolescence of all terrorists and dictators, making of each "The Little Plowboy Who Whistled O'er the Lea". Say, the boyhood Hitler strolling the Alps, innocently day-dreaming of the day he'll be rewarded with his own chalet at Berchtesgarden. Or Osama bin Laden, eyes glazed over, fantasizing the seventy-two virgins awaiting him for his rigthteousness.
  
  However, the scene of Alberto and Ernesto struggling with the motorcycle in the snow is very good.
  
  
• The Making of a Revolutionary
  By A3JPFWKS83R49V on 2005-07-21
  Traveling is one of my favorite activities. Whether I'm taking a long vacation trip of one week or more or just a weekend getaway to a nearby resort, I'm always ready for some travel excitement. In this movie, the two lead characters are also very fond of travel. They hop aboard a motorcycle and proceed to traverse throughout South America, making for an entertaining film that combines travel adventure and politics to create a mesmerizing film with a strong message.
  
  This movie is based on a real- life event that occurred in the 1950's when Ernesto Guevara set off across the South American continent with his friend on the back of a motorcycle. Some might recognize the Guevara name from history- he was one of the people responsible for leading the Cuban revolution that brought Castro to power. He was on his way to perform medical work as part of his college internship and decided to make a long adventure out of it rather than flying directly to his destination.
  
  Among this film's strong points, which include the directing, the acting, and the hot Latin babes, the quality that stands out more than anything is the cinematography. The two young men depart form their native Argentina, head west to Chile, then north to Peru and ultimately to Venezuela. Along the way, the viewer is treated to great natural scenery like the Andes Mountains, the Atacama Desert, and the Amazon River. There is also some great man- made scenery as well, like that of an ancient Inca ruin in Peru. And there are some politically tragic scenes, like those that depict the unethical treatment received by peasants and others during this time in history.
  
  The direction of this movie is superb, and it is intended to get the viewer to think about social and economic justice. Supposedly, Guevara's traveling experience and the acts of injustice he encountered formed the basis for his decision to help lead the Cuban revolution. It's a little strange that he would forge a relationship with Castro's Cuba, since little or nothing in that island nation bears any resemblance to justice. But this is what happened, and this movie is based loosely on Guevara's eye- opening travel adventure.
  
  Some people will be turned off by a movie like this because of its obvious political leanings and its subtle endorsement of socialism as a political ideal. I certainly don't agree with any type of government philosophy based on authoritarianism. But I urge viewers not to let this dissuade them from watching this film. It offers great scenery, flawless direction, and great performances by the large cast of characters. Toss your political beliefs aside and give this film a chance. You will be happy you did.
  
  
  
• Buddy Picture Reaches Far Deeper Into the Heart
  By A13E0ARAXI6KJW on 2004-10-06
  When I visited South America on my own extended trip a couple of years ago, I was amazed how many times I saw pictures of Che Guevara everywhere I went....cafes, outdoor bulletin boards, art galleries, even department stores. Now I understand why. Having just read his diary, I was greatly anticipating this film, and my interest only heightened when I started seeing the travelogue shots in the previews. I am happy to report the film surpasses my expectations on almost every level. It is exquisite - perceptively directed, beautifully photographed and wondrously acted by a cast headed by two charismatic actors who tap deep into the hearts and souls of their characters. Whereas the book is more observational, the movie provides a more involving feeling in its portrait of a young man on the brink of his political awakening. It starts out somewhat deceptively as a comic buddy picture with the young Ernesto Guevara (pre-Che), a medical student, leaving his family and accompanying his seemingly more worldly pal Alberto Granado, a biochemist, on a dilapidated 1939 Norton motorbike traversing South America from their native Buenos Aires to Caracas. It is obvious what Alberto's hormonally charged intentions are on this months-long journey, but at 23, Ernesto is at a more sensitive juncture in his life where his encounters and observations have a deeper impact on his ideology.
  
  What I really like about the film is how it changes in tone and texture as the boys' hunt for adventure evolves into life-changing experiences for both of them. The motorbike acts as a metaphor for this change, as it unsurprisingly breaks down forcing them to open their eyes to the poverty and quiet struggle of the local people in each of the countries they visit. The story winds through wintry Patagonia, the blistering Atacama Desert, the awe-inspiring Machu Picchu and several towns in between. But the most touching passage takes place at the San Pablo leper colony in the Peruvian Amazon basin, where Ernesto bonds deeply with the lepers to the chagrin of the local nuns. His night swim across the Amazon, struggling for air through his asthma, is a powerful scene among many in this subtly potent film.
  
  As he proved with his wonderful "Central Station", director Walter Salles has an acute ability to connect his characters to their settings in deeply emotional ways. He is the ideal choice to guide this road movie. As Guevara, Gael Garcia Bernal transcends his Tiger Beat, teen heartthrob looks and delivers a deeply touching performance, as he grows from a big city innocent to a haunted young man ready to take on a greater cause than his medical career. He does an especially strong job in conveying his character's unblinking honesty and displaying unexpected acts of rage and compassion. Just as good is Rodrigo de la Serna in his feature film debut as Granado, effortlessly showing his character's bravado and humor while finding his own bumpy way in the world. His reactions to his buddy's political declaration at the birthday party, and to his own feelings during their goodbye at the end, are among the most poignant moments in the movie. In fact, much of the film's power comes from their palpable chemistry and unforced rapport. They are instantly and completely believable as best friends. And much more than the book, the film builds a solid emotional bridge between the young innocent and the Communist revolutionary Guevara was to become. If you are not aware of his fate, it is briefly summarized in subtitles at the end, and the coda with the real Granado is moving. While this may be the most glowing portrayal of a Communist-in-the-making since Warren Beatty's film about John Reed, "Reds", don't let that stop you from seeing this mesmerizing work. This is a wonderfully heartfelt film.
  
  **ADDENDUM ABOUT THE DVD RELEASE POSTED ON FEBRUARY 18, 2005**
  There are three extended deleted scenes included in the DVD package, none indispensable but still valuable for the additional context they provide to an essentially episodic movie. I particularly liked the sequence with the blind truck driver risking the lives of the two vagabonds as he swerves perilously on a treacherous mountain road. The obligatory making-of documentary is helpful, and includes comments from Salles, screenwriter Jose Rivera and executive producer Robert Redford. There are also a couple of brief Spanish-language TV interviews with Bernal and a quick interview with the film's composer, Gustavo Santaolalla.
  
  
• Celebrating Che ?
  By AZXGPM8EKSHE9 on 2005-05-02
  Given the fact that Che Guevara personally sent over 1,800 men to die by firing squad (Fidel's Cuba executed over 15,000 political prisoners), all without a real trial, and personally watched many of them die from a window in his office, the men being shot with a .45 caliber pistol at point blank range to their heads, I think this is an odd movie. Che once stated that "we don't need proof" to try and kill political enemies. He also said, "we have to become cold killers". Thus, it is odd to not see the connection made between the young, idealistic Che, and the communist "killing machine" that Che later became. Che was not even from Cuba. He was an idealist in the worst possible sense of that word. Thus, it is odd to see a film made that shows him in a positive light. Hollywood and the Left really do seem to like communists. If you want the real story of Che, read the book "Fidel - Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant". It has an entire chapter about the "hero", Che. If you want the whitewashed, Leftwing version, see this movie, but please remember, your "hero" killed 1800 innocent people.
  
  
• I-luv-commies
  By AXAONB0X4C84U on 2005-12-21
  Just kidding. I hate em. But this movie is great because deep down inside every ruthless killer and dictator-lackey is a human being who once felt bad for lepars. So we should make nice movies about them. Next the director will be making a film about Adolf who was a real swell guy and animal lover who became so enraged about German mismanagement of its economy and the after-effects that he decided the blame lay at the feet of the continent's jews. So he had great motives, he just got a little angry! Just like Che!
  
  
• Aye Carumba
  By A22VXATOU5F7BH on 2005-10-07
  Does anyone have any information on any "buddy films" about Hitler. The early years of course. Before he became so "angry". Perhaps Stalin and Mao movies would be nice. Its high time we break down these taboos and see the lighter side of totalitarian dictators.
  
  As someone whose father was almost executed by this "social justice-minded doctor" who cared so much about the "poor" (except when they didn't want communism of course), I find it mindblowing that people who live in freedom would gush about this man. Perhaps we have a lot of readers of Howard Zinn posting these comments. In any case, I'll stick to mindless action movies since at least they don't insult me.
  
  
  
  
• Misleading Documentary Omits True Facts About Atrocities Committed By Che in Cuba
  By A28I04LHQ59QIQ on 2007-02-27
  Being an American myself who has actually visited Cuba within the last year, I find the other reviews of this documentary to be completely misguided. Like them, I first saw this documentary and believed that Castro and Che weren't such a bad guys, but that the U.S. and Cuban exiles were biased and portrayed them as monsters. When I met several Cuban exiles who emotionally told me the stories of how they had their houses taken away by Castro and how their parents were tortured and placed in rat-infested prisons for simply expressing their support democracy, I thought these Cuban exiles were exaggerating. However, after I visited Cuba last year, I have to painfully admit that these people were correct in the stories they told me. I went to Cuba expecting to see racial equality, free healthcare and free education, as people like Ted Turner and Steven Spielberg had claimed existed in Cuba. What I learned from actually speaking to people in Cuba during my trip was a completely different picture from that portrayed of Castro in this documentary. Not to mention, I expected to see beautiful, exotic buildings. However, what I actually saw was building after building in Havana crumbling, with no electricity and on average, there were five to six families living in one two-story house. In one house I visited, the roof was partially torn off, one family of three lived under the staircase, two families lived in the kitchen, and three families lived upstairs, which consisted of two bedrooms and one closet. Very, very sad. Each day they had to wait in a line for two hours to just to get one ration of bread and rice. When I asked one of the mothers about the school system she explained that all children who attended were required to denounce any "counterrevolutionary activity" they saw at home to their teachers. As a result, many Cuban parents went to jail because one of their children notified authorities that their parents were "disagreeing" with the government some way. Imagine being placed in jail because U.S. law states your child must tell his third grade teacher he overheard you say "I disagree with the Iraq war and dislike President Bush" at your kitchen table. I also learned that when school children participate in a government march for the communist party they're given a coupon, which must be given to their teachers the following day to prove they participated. If they don't turn in their your coupon, the teacher will make a notation on a report card that each Cuban student carries from kindergarten until he graduates from high school. In addition to information about the student participation in all political activities, the report card also has information about his family including whether his parents belong to the Communist Party, a Committee for the Defense of the Revolution or the CTC or Confederation of Cuban Workers. In pre-Castro Cuba, the CTC used to represent Cuban workers and demand new benefits and better salaries for them. In Castro's Cuba, however, the CTC, exploits the workers, treating them as if they were slaves. The poor Cuban workers have to pay a fee to the CTC from their meager salaries in order to be "represented" by them. I was in such shock to learn these facts that I am now firmly convinced there is no such thing as a "free educational system" in Cuba.
  
  As my conversations with Havana locals turned to the issue of free healthcare, praised by many ignorant Americans (myself having been one of them before this trip), I became even more distraught at the truth about healthcare in Cuba. The truth is that Castro has built excellent health facilities for the use of FOREIGNERS who pay hard currency for medical services. However, Cuban citizens are not even allowed to visit those facilities ! Cubans who require medical attention must go to other hospitals, that lack the most minimum requirements needed to take care of their patients. Most hospitals are filthy and patients have to bring their own towels, bed sheets, pillows, or they have to lay down on dirty bare mattresses stained with blood and other body fluids. Next time you hear someone say that Cubans receive "excellent free healthcare" (as I once used to say) please think again because that is simply not true. I spoke to five people whose family members died while attempting to "float" to Florida on dangerous, man-made rafts because they were so desperate to escape Fidel Castro's regime. Most people I spoke to were afraid to answer my question "Do you like Castro?" But their silence and weary down-turned eyes spoke volumes about the truth. Most people HATE Castro and think he is selfish, oppressive monster who has banked millions of dollars while the Cuban people starve and wait in line for rations of bread. I was shocked to read in a Forbes magazine article dated 5/5/06 that Castro's estimated fortune last year was $[...] million (if you don't believe go to this link: [...])
  
  I came back from my trip to Cuba a changed person. I felt so stupid and ignorant for having believed this documentary and other statements made by American writers, actors and directors such as Alice Walker, Sydney Pollack, Danny Glover, Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson and Kevin Costner, that portrayed Castro as "brilliant" and Cuba as having "excellent healthcare and education." If you watch this documentary you should also watch the movie "The Lost City." This movie is the story of a Cuban family during the Cuban Revolution and ACCURATELY shows you both pre-Castro and post-Castro Cuba. It depicts how Castro's government slowly began eliminating free press any semblance of property rights and freedom. The movie is fair because it portrays both points of view--one brother in the movie supports Castro and the other disagrees with Castro. The cab driver I had while I was in Havana told me that, being 75 years old, he had experienced both pre-Castro and post-Castro Cuba. When Castro took power he was poor and believed in socialism and the revolution. But now, 45 years later, he is no better off than he was before. At least before Castro, he told me, he had better healthcare, a better house and freedom to express his religious beliefs (Castro closed all churches and essentially banned religion) and political beliefs. Perhaps the saddest part of my trip, which still resonates in my head today, was how this old man just kept repeating over and over "I should have left in 1959. I should have known. I should have known. Now I am old and cannot leave. I'll never be free."
  
  
  
• The Cleansing
  By A1TJPMB7N776WS on 2004-09-26
  Those of you that come to "The Motorcycle Diaries" looking for a new Millennium easy living/ heavy drinking cycle road movie will be very disappointed, for "The Motorcycle Diaries" is more "Gulliver's Travels" than "Easy Rider."
  This film is based on the diaries of Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) kept while on a trip through South America accompanied by his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). And while we now know Che Guevara as a revolutionary and a comrade of Fidel Castro's, "The Motorcycle Diaries" ends well before this phase of Che's life.
  As it is, this movie is quite beautiful to behold but unfortunately for those of us who know the whole (or even parts of the) story of Che's move from vagabond, /medical student/Doctor to a Communist revolutionary, responsible for many deaths, can only be taken aback at the portrayal of Che as a sort of latter-day combination Mother Teresa,Lenin and suburban teenager. (The screen literally lights up though, when the luminous Bernal smiles)
  While it is true that Guevara and Granado set out on this trip without a care in the world except a hunger to see what is "out there," I have to question the motives of the film maker in presenting this true-to-a-point yet evasive view of Che and all he was to become.
  With all that said, the film is beautifully and artfully shot by cinematographer Eric Gautier and the mise en scene is cluttered with the beauty that is South America. The duo's bumpy journey by raft, ferry but mostly on foot is characterized by humor, arguing and a deep recognition of how much better they have it than most of the people with whom they come in contact.
  There are many things that I love about "The Motorcycle Diaries," Bernal and de la Serna for two, but nonetheless I have a lingering bad taste in my mouth about the ritual cleansing of a man who on the one hand said that "the true revolutionary is guided by love" but in reality was more Ivan the Terrible than St Francis.
  
  
  
• From Kindly Medical Student to Ruthless Murderer
  By A2KG8WLR1AKO12 on 2006-07-18
  The well meaning Robert Redford is a historical illiterate. It is also fair to describe the famous screen artist as a stereotypical useful idiot. His production of The Motorcycle Diaries is a leftist whitewash of a very evil man, Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The enslavement of Cuba is greatly due to his efforts. In the final years of this monster's relatively short life, Fidel Castro's close friend and comrade murdered people without hesitation. Sometimes for next to nothing. When in doubt, Guevara felt it was better to put a bullet into the head of a perceived enemy of the revolution. Was he always such a despicable creature? The short answer: no. According to this film, Che was once an idealist who valued truth and interacted with other human beings in a very generous manner. There seems to be little evidence to suggest in 1952 that he would ever turn into a blood thirsty Marxist ideologue. On the contrary, one might have more readily predicted Che would invent a cure for leprosy.
  
  We observe Ernesto Guevara traveling through South America with his buddy Alberto Granado. They have more time than money. This is suppose to be their voyage of discovery before returning to the serious duties of earning a good income and fulfilling their career ambitions. There are hints of their left-wing political leanings, but for the most part they seem like wild and crazy guys seeking adventure and a good time. The Motorcycle Diaries fails to deliver. I want to know what happened to Che immediately after his trip. Who did he meet that pushed him over the edge? What finally enticed Guevara to become a political extremist? These questions are left unanswered.
  
  David Thomson
  Flares into Darkness
  
  
• Big giant kiss-up to a terrorist, before he was a mall goth T-shirt
  By A3BAQ8F0SJRZLC on 2007-02-16
  Besides committing the worst cinematic sin of being boring and self-indulgent, this bromide of a film is an utter distortion of how Che Guevara developed into a sadistic murderer and rapist. This yawner shows him as a spoiled medical student who helps a leper colony, but does little to explain how he became a power-hungry militant with a notorious reputation for ruthlessness. He established forced labor camps to torture and kill innocent people. In one account, a child in his guerrila unit was immediately shot without trial for having stolen some food. He helped to destroy hundreds of years of a rich Cuban culture (see "Before Night Falls" to understand how the Castro government stifled free speech and tortured innocent people). Meanwhile, he was a hypocrite, living in a rich Havana estate like the so-called "capitalist oppressors" he tried to eradicate. But don't expect to see that story in this dull, droning film.
  
  
  
• The Life of Saint Che
  By A10VL36HN01EQZ on 2004-10-28
  This film is the cinematic equivalent of a "Che" t-shirt: a sanitary and simplified image of a complex man, custom-made to appeal to college kids. Some see Che as a hero and others see him as a monster. I see him as neither - I went to this film hoping to get a look at the human side of the young Che, so that I can better understand why he did the things that he did later in life. Instead, I was treated to a shallow hagiography which (as one reviewer so humorously put it) made Che look like Mother Teresa. We might as well call this film "The Communist Gospel According to Saint Che." Go read a few books to learn more about the real Che and leave this film to the t-shirt wearing college kids.
  
  
  
  
• Portrait of a Young Twit
  By AGE6PPUERU4F4 on 2004-10-31
  This film's most remarkable characteristic is the skill with which it portrays the consumate and unfailing banality of Ernesto and his friend "Fatty". Hats off to the director. I would expect that it takes true genius to portray with such clarity the shallowness of these two deceitful and self adoring twits. An heroic pilgrimage of growth and transformation? Hardly. Neither one of these Peter Pans,we find out at film's end, ever got over himself. If you find satisfying entertainment in depictions of superficiality and ineptness then this is one you won't want to miss.
  
  
• Que tonto eres!
  By A13IWWH0W9ASUP on 2006-01-27
  Not entirely sure how I became a racist by simply pointing out the fact that Che was a murderer. I don't care who he was "fighting" and who you think he was fighting for. Obviously, the masses couldn't care less since his "revolution" didn't catch on regardless of where he went. I'm also curious how he managed not to be a communist since he was 2nd in command to a communist revolution in Cuba and tried to export that revolution throughout Latin America. We all know how that went! He can fight all the "brutal dictators" he wants, he was brutal working for a brutal dictator himself. So I'm supposed to be a racist because I don't choose the foolish point of view that Che was "less brutal" and killed fewer people? That's like saying David Duke is better than Hitler. Who cares? I hate em both!
  
  As for the review, let me spell it out in case plain English can't penetrate your anger and irrationality...
  
  Just because you/the director/writer/anyone else thinks Che liked the little guy and did some nice things for him, or even that he had nice intentions, doesn't lessen the fact that making a buddy road trip movie about someone who lined up political prisoners and shot them (or ordered them to be shot) doesn't sit well with me. Behold, your beloved Che:
  
  "To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary...These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the paredon (the execution wall)"
  
  At least he was fighting "the man" right?
  
  
• Take This Journey!!!!!
  By A3EP1B669EBL8B on 2004-05-19
  When I walked into the movie theatre (I got the chance of seeing it here in Brazil, where the movie has already opened), I didn't had much expectations about this movie. When I walked out, it was a whole other story....

  Mind-Blowing locations, with a spectacular soundtrack, and explendid acting, director Walter Salles takes us, deep into South America, to an unforgettable journey, where two best friends will find more than just adventures, but get in touch with their true self, and will change their lives forever. For Real!

  Well, even if the movie only opens in October, or if you are in another country, mark this movie "THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES", and for pete's sake, do not miss this!!!!

  And for those, that believes movies aren't all about, know that this is a true story, based on the diary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and his trip with his best Friend Alberto Granado.
  A must-see picture and a must-have DVD!!!

  simply fantastic!
  
  

• Humanism, Awareness, Coming of Age: The Soul of Revolution
  By A328S9RN3U5M68 on 2004-09-25
  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. But given his re-creation of Che Guevara's and Alberto Granado's meaningful excursion into manhood this movie goes far beyond entertainment and enters that rarefied arena of psychobiography. Traveling on an old motorcycle, the two lads encounter hunger, accidents, lusting after women at every stop, ingratiating panhandling, and the gradual revelation of the quality of life of the indigenous peoples of South America. They are touched by the plights of the people, the people in turn love the boys, and they eventually spend three weeks living and working in a leprosarium run by the nuns, adding their knowledge of medicine to helping not only the physical needs of the lepers but finding ways to break the psychosocial ostracism that historically curses the 'unclean'. Breaking down these barriers, forming strong relationships with those tending the lepers as well as the lepers themselves, lays the seeds of 'revolution' or Change in the minds of the lads, especially Ernesto or 'Che'. The film does not begin to preach or to make the Che Guevara of Cuban militancy fame a hero: it doesn't have to, as the transformation in the mind of Che is so beautifully subtle. The journey has given him the insight that he must devote himself to changing the inequality and poverty of his America. The events that followed this Motorcycle journey are provided in voice over, black and white footage of people's faces, and a final scene in Havana at the ending of the film. 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. Bernal is already a brilliant actor and a magnetic screen presence, and if he is not nominated for an Oscar for this unique, artful role it will be a major surprise. His is a career to watch! Likewise Rodrigo de la Serna is completely immersed in his role as Alberto and shows the same quality of quiet growth as a character as the movie progresses. ALL of the many extras in this huge cast are memorable: the leper colony abounds with some of the most touching human beings ever captured on film. The camera work, the musical scoring, the obvious commitment on the part of everyone involved in this glorious picture - every aspect of THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is exactly right. Ten Stars for this one! In Spanish with English subtitles
  
  
  
  
• No Bells. No Whistles. Just Plainly Perfect...
  By AHTRI0YTKGWS2 on 2005-01-15
  Nothing Hollywood-esque about this film. Just a real, stirring story of friendship and a journey of self-discovery. No bells, no whistles, unless the landscape of South America is enough to awe you (I loved it). The filming is intentionally authentic, but in no way pretentious, and the story-telling was affective without being manipulative. The acting was wonderful and the style unique. I've hardly seen a better made film, whether foreign or domestic recently. A highly effectual film, its angle made the audience curious about its material and the fate of its characters without being preachy about Che Guevara's particular controversies.
  
  I highly recommend it for anyone who's interested not only in Latin American politics, but more for anyone who can appreciate an excellently told story.
  
  
• Beautiful, likeable film degenerates into revisionist humbug
  By A2WZ1B92F81LJJ on 2004-08-30
  The first hour of this film is magical: the stunning South American scenery lends itself to grandiose cinematography against which our two likeable young bon-vivants set about an epic journey. It really is beautifully photographed and captures the very essence of the young man's perspective on discovering the world.
  
  But at about the same time the boys' antique Norton blows its motor, so the film blows its narrative and veers off the dirt road and into a field of sacred cows. And as the last reel arrives it is clear there are sanctimonious cowpats aplenty: an honest, beautiful film becomes revisionist, people's poet-venerating nonsense.
  
  As we get to know him we discover Ernesto (pre Che, at this point known as "Fuser") isn't quite the lecherous med-student on Spring Break we were led to believe: quite the sensitive young thing, he cannot lie, even to hide painful truths; he discovers and rails against oppression; he has a Diana-like compassion for the sick, poor and helpless (no rubber gloves for him when he meets the lepers, thank you very much!); and, though badly asthmatic, he is prepared to swim across the Amazon in the dead of night simply to say farewell to his leper friends. No matter that it's never been so much as attempted before (and in real life would surely be suicidal), nor yet that there is a boat available, nor indeed that he could quite reasonably wait until the morning to bid farewell. As an unsympathetic Mother Superior watches glumly from the jetty, you might almost say Guevara walks on water.
  
  It's not exactly subtle, but those on the educated left will love it: our local cinema, nestled in quiet, affluent, but Guardian-reading East Finchley, greeted the end credits with spontaneous applause.
  
  Good grief.
  
  Olly Buxton
  
  
  
• Politics aside, a decent film
  By A34TFC6YBCYDDW on 2005-04-15
  I watched this movie specifically for it's cinematography. South America is a beautiful, exotic, and diverse continental rich in history and culture. Having traveled there several times I find the land fascinating.
  
  However.......
  
  It amazes me how today's liberals, who adhere to an ideology supposedly based on tolerance and pacifism, actually admire Che Guevara. The film glossed over the fact that he was a bigot at times and a murderous thug, having participated in the execution of untold numbers of political enemies. Young people today who sport "Che" merchandise are totally ignorant of the real history
  behind this man.
  
  
• Tries a little too hard and is a little too politically correct
  By A17FLA8HQOFVIG on 2005-08-21
  This 2004 film tells the story of the motorcycle trip Ernesto Guevara de la Sena and his friend Alberto Granado took in 1952 from Argentina to Peru. Ernesto was a medical student and Alberto was a biochemist and they were privileged middle class Argentineans. Supposedly, that trip changed their politics forever, and Ernesto later became the revolutionary Che Guevara, the inspirational hero of a whole generation. But this film is not about those later politics although this particularly trip was instrumental in raising the young mens' consciousness about the hardships and exploitation of South America's poor.
  
  The film is in Spanish with Gael Garcia Benal cast as the young Ernesto and Rodrigo De La Serna cast as Alberto. Both are good in their roles although the screenplay itself lacks depth. Mostly, it plays like a travelogue in which the two young men are always the observers. And, in spite of a few short paragraphs which were so over-the-top with righteous indignation and political fervor that I actually found myself giggling, their adventures consisted mostly of having their motorcycle break down and meeting some native people. And then there were some overly-romanticized scenes in a leper colony.
  
  In real life, both of these young men wrote diaries and these diaries have been published and re-published many times. I understand that sometimes their narratives conflicted. And, as many of their adventures were described in a sketchy manner, it was the screenwriters who fleshed out this plot. It might not have been such an interesting story though if Che Guevara didn't later become famous. Mostly, it played like a coming-of-age story.
  
  Personally, I like to read about travels to places I know I'll never see. That's why I had such hope for this film. I had even read a book entitled "Chasing Che" by Patrick Symmes, who personally followed the trail taken by Guevara and Granado about fifty years later. I loved that book and hoped to discover in this film that combination of adventure and discomfort that created a turning place in their lives. Sadly, the film did not deliver this for me.
  
  I think The Motorcycle Diaries is a film that tried hard (actually a little too hard) to recapture the spirit of the open road and add a little political correctness at the same time. But the adventures seemed disjointed and the injustices they witnessed were lightweight compared to other films which deal with the same issues. That's why I can only give it a lukewarm recommendation.
  
  
• Simplified, but touching and entertaining nonetheless
  By AESY8NCX6VS6O on 2004-10-26
  Lately, it seems that Gael Garcia Bernal has become the Mexican Gerard Depardieu...all the movies from his country seem to have him in it. Of course, when a movie like Y Tu Mama Tambien or the deeply moving Motorcycle Diaries comes along, you realize he's a star even in the U.S. for good reason. In Diaries, Bernal portrays a young pre-revolutionary Che Guevara on a life-changing roadtrip around South America with the restrained ease of a pro. Accompanied by his med school buddy, Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna, charming in his first big role), they experience the poverty and injustice in their continent that later sows the seeds for the actions that made Che famous. Yeah, all the 'road-trip-movie' ingredients are here, but director Walter Salles manages to layer the story with a deeper theme that makes it all cohesive: a road trip of grandiose notions and goals is reduced to the need to help humanity in its most direct form. Yes, both main characters (Che, especially) suffer from a biopic-typical tidying up of personality (i.e. - these guys are about as flawed as Mother Teresa), but with Gustava Santaolalla's atmospheric guitar music and Eric Gautier's warm cinematography, Diaries and all its flaws become a satisfying cinematic experience that swells to a rewarding, if somewhat trite, finale. The message of Diaries is powerful, though, no matter how schmaltzy it may be. As the tagline goes, "Let the world change you...and you can change the world." Sounds good to me. B+
  
  
  
• The dream is over?
  By A3GKU0NILLHDWQ on 2004-11-07
  This beautiful movie deserves a wider audience than it's likely to get. The casting is top-drawer, the scenery breath-taking, and the story inspirational. What more can you ask of a movie? Apparently, a good number of reviewers would ask a lot more. They would ask that Che had never been Che, the Communist, and that millions of human beings in the 20th century had never flirted with alternative forms of government; otherwise, they won't have anything to do with this movie. How sad. They are guilty of the ad hominem fallacy, the one that, as they should have learned in logic class, plays to prejudices, emotions, and special interests, rather than to reason. So Che had a dream of a United Latin America-what of that? You can see how little came of it. Che himself was killed in Bolivia in a Quixotic attempt to stir up the same kind of rebellion he had sired, with Castro, in Cuba. But I'm not going to hold any of that against the young Ernesto who is depicted in Walter Salles' film, nor against his companion Alberto. For one thing, they remind me too much of myself. I once had ideals, many wrong-headed. I sometimes wonder what might have come of me had I acted upon them. As for the film, it is an experience that is a must for anyone with any curiosity about the world, although I understand that curiosity is discouraged in schoolrooms today, where the point of an education seems to be to establish our superiority over our neighbors. Here is a travelogue that should amaze those among us who have never peeked below the 30th parallel and asked what the other half of "America" looks like. The prospect of Machu Picchu alone is enough to evoke the wanderlust. And what subversive message does Ernesto, the young medical student, learn on the way to maturity? It's summarized in Ernesto's speech in the dance scene at the leprosarium: "We [Latins] constitute a single Mestizo race, which from Mexico to the Magellen Straits bears notable ethnographical similarities," and so he proposes a toast "to Peru and to a United Latin America." It never happened. It was a dream. Che's critics got the last laugh. But the film captures the dream beautifully, and for a moment we may even believe it's possible. We still go to the movies to dream, don't we?
  
  
• A disturbing film for all the wrong reasons
  By AHZJ4KTYBQ5KP on 2005-02-23
  Considering Ernesto "Che" Guevarra's historical importance in the Socialist Revolutionary era in Latin America and elsewhere, this film, beautiful and captivating as it is visually, is a highly misleading portrait of the "Revolutionary-in-the-making." For the most part a buddy film outlining an extended voyage within South America, there is absolutely nothing, save for one one, totally misplaced scene, which gives even a scintilla of an idea that here was an idealistic young professional on a journey of discovery that would lead him to revolutionary politics. The misplaced scene, towards the end of the film, is a birthday party at which "Che" makes what amounts to a plea for pan-American unity. It is in no way prepared, nor is it followed up. The end title cards giving a very brief summary of Che's life and death are hardly intuited by any action or dialogue during the course of the film. There is not a single episode suggesting how the young medical student becomes transformed into a Marxist radical - although from a purely utopian perspective, it is easy enough to intuit the missing pieces.
  
  What results, then, is a highly idealized portrait in which the central action of the film, the journey, produces nothing more earthshattering than a few attacks of asthma, and serious stares out into infinity. All Che's scribbling in his diaries remains, except for a few out of context quotations, mysterious.
  
  Personally, I would have preferred a much more substantial look at how the man went through his metamorphosis - even while keeping the travelogue and photographical/sociological portraits of the various indigenous peoples visited along the way. The real voyage was an interior one, psychologically, spiritually, politically - and going from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires to snow covered mountains in Chile to the long journey up the Amazon River is just far too vague a way to treat such a man, regardless of how you judge his politics or his actions in life.
  
  

• Amores Perros
• Y Tu Mama Tambien
• Maria Full of Grace
• City of God
• Like Water for Chocolate