The Motorcycle Diaries

I first read about the movie in TIME magazine (Aug 2004) (view article: online | cached). The movie was released on Sep 24, 2004 and the DVD was released on Feb 15, 2005. But there were only four copies in the local Blockbuster store here and they always seemed to be out. Finally, I was able to get hold on one of them.

The movie is entirely in Spanish with English subtitles. The Spanish (and original) title of the movie is "Diarios de motocicleta". The movie talks about the journey of 23-year old medical student Ernesto "Che" Guevera and Alberto Granada on a 1959 Norton 500cc motorcycle across South America in the early 1950s. They start from Argentina and travel to Chile, Peru, Columbia and Venuezela, a distance of over 12,000 miles. Their destination: a leper colony in San Pablo (Peru) where they had volunteered to work. It is a true story and based upon an actual journal written by Che Guevera.

Che Guevera was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. He was the right hand man of Fidel Castro. He was regarded as a leading authority on guerilla warfare. His book "Guerrilla Warfare", was seen for a time as the definitive philosophy for fighting irregular wars. However, his "Cuban Style" revolution failed in Bolivia, mostly due to the lack of grassroots support.

In the movie, Che is played by Gael García Bernal and Granada is played by Rodrigo De la Serna. Interestingly, in real life, De la Serna also happens to be the second cousin of Che Guevera. Gorgeous Mía Maestro plays Bernal's love interest in movie.

Incidentally, Che Guevera is also well known for the famous "Che" T-shirts. A photograph of him taken by photographer Alberto Korda in 1961 soon became the "most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century". The image that became famous is not the actual photograph but the high contrast bust drawing that is based on it. The bust drawing was made by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick. It was reproduced on a vast array of merchandise, such as T-shirts, posters, and baseball caps.

The TIME article sums it up:

In his evolution from Castro's right-hand man to the face that launched a thousand T shirts, Guevara has been frozen in time, always and forever the revolutionary...

Bottom Line: Great movie. Breathtaking scenery. Definitely worth watching - even with subtitles.

Trivia:
[1] After returning from his motorcycle trip, he did complete his medical studies. He graduated from the University of Buenos Aires medical school in 1953.
[2] The movie was also nominated for two Oscar Awards in 2005 – Best Original Song and Best Adapted Script. It won the Best Original Song Oscar for "Al otro lado del río".
[3] Guevera's famous nickname "Che" is the Argentinian equivalent for "what's up?" or "hey". In other parts of Latin America, it is slang for someone from Argentina (this part is mentioned in the movie).
[4] The real Granado is still alive (he is 83) and appears at the end of the movie.
[5] Antonio Banderas played Che Guevera alongside Madonna's Eva Perón in Evita (discussion).
[6] Another movie on Che (aptly titled "Che") starring Benicio Del Toro is being released in 2006.

Related Links:
- On the Road to Greatness (TIME article)
- A journey with 'Che' (Joseph Thomas)
- The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) (Yahoo Movies)
- Diarios de motocicleta (IMDB)
- Che Guevera (Wikipedia)
- The famous Che Guevera photo (Wikipedia)