Diarios de motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries)

Statistics:


Release Year – 2004
Running Time – 126 minutes
Director – Walter Salles
IMDB Rating - 7.9/10
Awards – Acadeny award for Original Song among other various awards
Cast - Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna


Summary:

 “This is not the tale of impressive deeds, it is a piece of two lives taken in a moment when they were cruising together along a given path With identity of aspirations and a conjunction of dreams.”

I was always fascinated by the character of Ernesto Che Guevara. Heard a lot about him from different sources as well, and also that he is the most popular face for the t-shirts across the world. Many term him as a great revolutionary and many as a terrorist. There is a very thin line between a revolutionist and a terrorist and the distinction depends upon the perspective from which you are looking to it. But why we are talking all this here, this movie is not about a revolution…..but yes it is about the early years of a revolutionist. This movie is an adaptation of the journals which Ernesto wrote when he went on a motorcycle trip of South America in early 1950s with his friend Alberto Granado with their faithful friend, a Norton 500 motorcycle christened La Poderosa (The Mighty One). The trip starts from their home country Argentina and crosses Chile, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela ending at a leper colony where they both thought of working for some time. Soon the youthful adventurous nature of trip was gone, when they observed the impoverished indigenous people of those countries. The movie slightly touches the early stages of transformation of a man, setting up his principles and the ultimate aim of his life, however it does not try to answer as to how a 23-year old medical student went ahead to become the most famous revolutionary leader.
In my opinion, I am not very impressed by the way the events are depicted in the film, yes those are all connected with a thread however these fall very short in comparison with the personality of the character. Or it might be that my expectations were different such as I was looking for that triggering point which transformed this person into a revolutionist. Not only this was missing, or better I say that it was never the intention from the director to depict it, but also the journey was not shown the way I was expecting. Yes, a biopic may not have all entertaining events, however it could have been made little better if not like it is now. I would recommend for one time watch to understand the political situation of South America of that time, but surely it is not a movie which I would like to watch again and again.