The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

The film The Motorcycle Diaries is based on the real life diary of a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara.  It follows the Argentines, Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado, as they travel via motorcycle across South America on a quest for adventure and medical experience.


As the film begins, Ernesto Guevara is just a young college student who is about to graduate from medical school.  He is packing for his upcoming trip through South America.  He and his friend are going to go through all of the major tourist destinations but their ultimate destination is a leper colony located in Peru, where they will be able to study the disease and gain experience. Initially they are both looking for fun and excitement.  Soon after there departure, they begin to realize that their trip is not all that easy.  They encounter harsh climates, trouble with locals, and witness the sufferings of others.

The goal of this film is to show the experiences that Che Guevara went through that contributed to making him the man he later became.  A few of the major incidents portrayed in the film that really impacted Guevara were the encounters with the Communist mining couple, the poor indigenous populations, and the leper colony.

Ernesto meets a poor Communist couple while traveling through the Atacama desert.  They befriend the couple and the couple tells Guevara and Granado of their troubles.  They explain that have been persecuted for their political beliefs and cannot find work. They are on their way to a mine in the hopes that one of them will be selected for work.  Guevara and Granado follow them to the mine and witness the harsh reality of the job scarcity.  They see dozens of people gathered all with the same hope of being selected.  However, only a few are needed.  The man in charge chooses a few and the rest are told to go home, which angers Guevara.  Guevara later reveals to Granado that he gave the couple the stash of money he had been saving.

After this, while traveling through the Andes Mountains in Peru, the two witness the poverty of the indigenous peoples.  This deeply effects Guevara and Granado.  This makes Granado say he would like to start a peaceful revolution in South America in hope of helping the indigenous populations.  Guevara responds by saying, "A revolution without guns? It will never work."

The last stop on their journey is the leper colony.  The leper colony is divided into two sides, separated by a river.  The doctors and medical staff live on one side and the lepers live on the other. As soon as Guevara and Granado arrive, they refuse to wear gloves and instead chose to shake the lepers hands with bare skin.  Guevara bonds with all of the people at the colony, doctors and patients alike.  He is even able to befriend the most stubborn and tough patients.  Guevara has a birthday the night before they are to leave the colony.  The doctors and nurses throw him a party on their side of the river and the lepers are not able to attend.  While Guevara does have a good time at his party, he wants to spend time with the patients as well.  Therefore, he swims across the whole river in the middle of the night and spends the night on the leper side.  The next morning, everyone is sad to see Guevara go.

After each of these three incidences, we can see more of a change in Guevara each time.  His demeanor changes as well as his goals. He becomes extremely sympathetic for those  less fortunate and has a strong desire to help them.  He seems to almost become disturbed by all of the suffering he has witnessed.  He goes from being a young man looking for fun to becoming an adult with a whole new outlook on life.

Personally, I enjoyed this film very much.  I found it pleasant to watch as well as interesting and informative.  It takes a different approach to the Che Guevara most people think of.  Instead of focusing on his later and more infamous life, it centers on the things that effected his beliefs during his youth.  Prior to this movie, I knew nothing about Che Guevara's younger years. I learned a lot about him from this film.  I also especially liked the fact that this film is based on the real life memoirs of Guevara himself.  That makes for a more accurate interpretation and portrayal.  Overall, I would consider this to be a successful historical film.