An well acted and written tribute to the era of Ernesto "Che" Guerva

Walter Salles at his best. An evocative film, beautifully shot. With a tour de force performance from Gael Garcia Bernal.

Que grande filme nos é apresentado aqui, principalmente para nós latino americanos, o longa tem um caráter excepcional para qualquer um que queira adentrar na história da América do Sul, e de seus povos originários que foram praticamente expulsos de suas terras, por conta da ganância dos colonizadores europeus. Um filme fundamental, apenas assistam, um adendo a fotografia que me lembra muito o grande fotografo brasileiro Sebastião Salgado,

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is much better than the book from which it takes its name. The film successfully draws forth the deeper currents of Guevara's road trip notes, portraying the formative journey as one full of mishaps, humor, pathos, and insight. The film's measured pace, location filming and excellent soundtrack all support the creation of a culturally-authentic work of art that stands on its own.

realistic and authentic for the most part

A nice enough film about Guevara's famed journey across South America. The real beauty comes in the photography of the continent as we join this epic trip and see some amazing scenery. Well acted and you come to like the two protagonists. Bought this one for £1 in a charity shop on DVD.

Finally watched it on gf's rec and glad I did. Top notch stuff.

The film deals exactly with the point of departure of "Ernesto Che Guevara". This biography / road movie can be called a quasi-documentary. The journey of two friends and two lives with common dreams in Latin America and the film shows a real picture of these lands. The film becomes very deep and powerful in the second half and tends more towards the documentary structure. In one of the dialogues at the beginning of the movie, Ernesto's friend says that if there is no motorcycle, we should go on foot. Ernesto says better because then we see better and more people. Right from the middle of the movie, when the motorcycle is no longer useful due to its problems and being scrap, and they continue on foot, it becomes a journey to the depth of belief and changes both friends. The film follows life during the journey. And in the hands and curved lines of people's faces, there is a longing for life. The credits at the end of the movie are wonderful.

In many ways, this is a story about coming of age "Diarios de motocicleta" shows Ernesto (Che) Guevara's inner story, based on his diaries from his youth and those of his friend Alberto Granado. This fictionalized reconstruction transports us into the feelings of a Latin American consciousness that has been ideologically rediscovered.

A fascinating insight into what motivated Che Guevara to become the famous revolutionary. I learnt a lot.

Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries tells the story of a formative year in the life of a young Che Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal), a period prior to his participation in the Cuban Revolution and his role in Fidel Castro's regime. Together with close friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), Guevara embarks on a year-long road trip on the back of a decrepit motorcycle across South America where, after a comfortable upbringing in Buenos Aires, he is exposed to the oppressed and the downtrodden for the first time is his life, vowing to make their living conditions more acceptable. The touching journey of self-discovery features strong performances from all involved, stunning landscapes, effective cinematography, and an insightful script that gives great depth to one of history's most divisive characters.

Boring road-trip movie. Things happen along the way. It ends. No plot to it. Boring really.

Recientemente, he visto Diarios de Motocicleta. Este dice la historia de un hombre, estudiando para ser doctor y su mejor amigo Alberto. Ellos son Argentinos de familias que tienen mucho dinero. Ellos querrían explorar por todo el sur de América. Esta historia tiene el aparecimiento de una historia simple. Pero, el doctor no fue famoso por ser doctor. El nombre del doctor es Che Guevara, y este viaje fue el inspiro que daría forma a las políticas de Latinoamérica por la 20 centuria. Durante la película, vemos cómo Che se transforma de un hombre joven que quería ser doctor a un revolucionario que quería ayudar a los pobres de latinoamérica. No llevaba mucho para transformar las ideas de Che Guevara. Simplemente vi como los pobres, los campesinos, y los indígenas estaban viviendo en todos los lugares de Sur America. Mis cosas favoritas del cine fueron la actuación. Gael García Bernal lee el papel de Che Guevara y Rodrigo de la Serna lee el papel de su amigo, Alberto. Gael García Bernal hace un trabajo excelente en mostrar la transformación de Che. En el primero de la película, lee Che como introspectiva y como alguien que está verdaderamente intentando de comprender el mundo. También ves, con su actuación, el aumento del peso de la emoción que el viaje trae. Con cada kilómetro que suben en la motocicleta, puedes ver en la cara de Che (o Gael García Bernal) el peso del mundo aumentando. La actuación de Rodrigo de la Serna es perfecto opuesto a Che. Rodrigo juega el mas despreocupado Alberto. Con la presencia y actitud de Alberto, podemos ver las actitudes de la gente privilegiada. Este es perfecto en que podemos ver como Che está atrapado entre dos mundos: el mundo de su juventud (el mundo de privilegia) o su destino de ayudar a la gente desafortunada. Si tu fueras Che, qué harías? Totalmente esta fue una película excelente e hizo un trabajo excelente en diciendo la historia de una de las figuras más importantes en la historia del mundo.

Very Spanish. Idk what else to say. You have to really be into their sentiment of film making to enjoy it.

Even if you hate communism or Che you should still watch this movie. It's not about either of them. It's about the harsh inequality that exists in our world.

The Motorcycle diaries is a coming of age, clash of cultures, cultural imperialist, proto South American communist revolutionary, road movie, telling the tale of how a 24 year old Ernest Guevara (or ‘Che' as he become known to t-shirt sellers everywhere) and his moustachioed buddy Alberto travelled the length of South America by clapped out motor bike, clapped out trucks, clapped out shoes and almost serviceable river boats. Leaving behind a large and happy family, a promising medical career and a beautiful rich girlfriend at her beautiful sprawling ranch, it's easy to see why he swopped it all for life with his ewok chum among the rubble, dust and colourful hats of the easily conned ladies they meet along the way. Frankly you'd be mad not to. Top it off with a 3 week gig at a Leper colony and you're getting on for the perfect holiday for a young man about town. Clearly, Ernest saw sense and this mad him angry. So angry in fact, he started blurting stuff at all those who would listen and ultimately become a gun toting, cigar chewing psychopath with a thing for berets. We see the former at the end of this movie but for the latter, we'd have to watch Stephen Sodeburgh's subsequent flicks to get a glimpse of him in rooting-tooting action. On the whole, Motoryclce Diariies was fairly good value for its 126 minute running time, evoking a fine sense of time and place, that filled the viewers lungs with the smell of Diesel oil and the viewers eyes with occasionally majestic scenery if we discount the lepers. Bernal played Guevara with a fairly straight bat, whereas Rodrigo de la Serna stole the show with his sheer front, slick dance moves and bike handling skills to rival those of a tanked up Julian Baker.

This was one of many films I was forced to watch in Spanish class in high school and while it was not a film that I would ever call bad per se it also was not terribly memorable. Watching it again all these years later I felt the same way as the film has noble intentions and does a better job serving as a tribute to it's subject than Che! (1969) but it is not the thoughtful and weighty epic that it would like to be. I was shocked by the fact that it is the first half of the film when our protagonist is not driven by a desire to adjust the imbalances present in the world that I was most invested in. Medical student Ernesto Guevara, Gael Garcia Bernal, decides to travel around South America with his friend Alberto Granado, Rodrigo de la Serna, before he completes his training. They set off to enjoy the scenery and feel that they have experienced new cultures but find their viewpoint on class and wealth inequality changed by what they witness. While on the road Guevara takes on some of the revolutionary beliefs that he would incorporate into his ideology when he became the Marxist leader of Cuba. It is during the first half that we meet Guevara as a regular young man who may be more affluent than those who surround him but who is well meaning and lacks the self importance of Guevara the political leader. His attempts to get a girl even wealthier than him to sleep with him are thwarted and she burdens him with money meant to pay for a dress that she will wear. His irritation at her resistance to his affections felt like the feelings of a young man in his early 20s who is not quite sure of his place in the world. As he walks around with few burdens on his shoulders and a boundless optimism that can only be found in a young person the teenager in me connected to him. So many of us look back on this time in our lives with such fondness but we do not take into account the fact that you feel such fear and trepidation at this time in our lives. As he heads out on a journey he is afraid to leave behind prospects available at home such as his beloved girlfriend and is unsure of what he will find when he goes to these new and exotic places. It is so much easier to care for Guevara the young man than the great and noble political figure that the film tries to sell us on in it's second and third acts. This impenetrability made me feel that the film was similar in some ways to Gandhi (1982) as although it does not stretch out to over three hours and feels less like a history lesson than that film it is hampered by some of the same problems. We are greeted too often with scenes of Guevara witnessing inequality in action and feeling that he needs to rectify the problems he sees but realizing that he does not have the power to do so. This is communicated once or twice effectively through seeing the photographs that Guevara has taken and then having a shot of Bernal's eyes looking concerned and misty with tears. There is only so much we can take before we get sick of Guevara and all of his goodness and as he ascends to saint like status he is less and less interesting. The film could have said something about the privileged position that Guevara comes from and what this allows him to feel. Is it wrong for a man who has been given everything to take on the plight of the working man and is he wrong to go off and lecture those around him when he once enjoyed the same privileges they have? The film chooses not to go near some of the thornier questions that could be asked and picks and chooses with it's minor criticisms of Guevara. It is an incomplete portrait at best and while entertaining at most it does not give a sense of the man as he truly was.

This was a great movie about a guy that wanted to save the world. Che's story was interesting, sadly though, he became bitter and violent in his later years.

Una medicina para el alma

Another masterpiece, a must see