This isn’t a tale of heroic feats – it’s about two lives running parallel for a while

So begins the journal of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara de la Serna, Fidel Castro’s right hand man in the Cuban revolution of 1959. The Batista dictatorship collapsed, replaced by the once glorious socialist party, which was eventually to become as repressive and probably more economically damaging than the regime it overthrew. This journal, called, ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ has nothing to do with the man Che was later to become but instead, is about a cross-country trip that a 23 year old medical student took across the South American continent with his close friend, Alberto Granado, 29, also a student, a bio-chemistry major. This was 1952 and both men, months away from graduating, but fed up with classes and exams, decide to chuck it all for a while and hit the road. This trip would cover some 8,000 miles and wind its way through Argentina, Chile and Peru – ultimately ending up in a leper colony where the men do a brief residency before taking their leave of one another.

The film opens with a good-bye dinner for Ernesto (played by Gael Garcia Bernal; ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’) and Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna; ‘Gallito Ciego’) at the Guevara family home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The two young men are bustling around preparing for the trip, nervous and excited, while the family is offering advice, expressing fears; and one can see the privileged upper middle class setting from which Ernesto has come. The journey begins on an ancient 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle, affectionately named, ‘La Poderosa’ (The Mighty One) and the two barely make it out of the city limits. As they get further out into the wilds, the terrain changes and the playful banter between the two becomes tinged with seriousness and a sense of wonder – the first border crossing from Argentina into Chile, a symbolic moment. Ernesto Guevara:

What do we leave behind when we cross a frontier? Each moment seems split in two: melancholy for what is left behind and the excitement of entering a new land.

This juncture seems to herald the raised consciousness of the two young travelers – Alberto, the extroverted one still plays the clown but the introspective Ernesto is beginning to see other things; the senselessness of borders and the enormous gap between society’s economic classes. This Pan-American overview of the illusory nature of borders and divided countries was to continue throughout his life, ultimately getting him killed in Bolivia. His sense of the unfairness of life between the haves and have-nots becomes formed during this journey, a concept that from here on will inform the rest of his actions. They meet up with an indigenous Chilean couple on the road (La Poderosa has died at this point and they walk or hitch rides) that are Communists and have been thrown off their farm and land because of their support for the Communist party. They spend the night talking and one can sense the wheels turning in Ernesto’s mind – the next day they witness the couple, along with others, looking for day labor at the mines; an abusive and humiliating experience.

There are also moments of spiritual awareness; a particularly profound scene occurs when the young men reach the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu, high in the Peruvian Andes Mountains. They wander in the ruins, taking it all in, and prompting the narrative voiceover of Ernesto reading from his journal; Machu Picchu, Peru, 5 April 1952:

The Incas knew astronomy, brain surgery, mathematics, among other things, but the Spanish invaders had gunpowder. What would America look like today if things had been different? …. How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?

The mention of gunpowder was important, as Ernesto was to make other comments later in the film, reflecting his belief that in order to challenge the entrenched and abusive powers, one had to be equally equipped with the right tools (guns, in this case) – again, a philosophy that he would see come to life as he and Fidel Castro swoop down from the Sierra Maestra Mountains and wrest Cuba from the Batista government.

The most important part of the film centers on a three-week volunteer stint that Ernesto and Alberto perform in Peru, in the San Pablo leper colony. This is probably the most life-changing experience for both. There is a scene toward the end, at night, where he swims across a particularly dangerous river (that divides the colony – patients from staff) to be with the patients on his birthday, which felt especially symbolic in several ways – undertaking something dangerous for someone else, showing an allegiance to the disenfranchised and perhaps the deepest, as a rebirth. Landing on the riverbank on the opposite side seems key, especially in light of the fact that a mere four years later, in 1956, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara would be landing on a Cuban beach.

This is a beautiful, at times breathtaking, film – Brazilian director, Walter Salles has taken the controversial figure of Che Guevara and explored an earlier, and perhaps more innocent time in his life. The cinematography (Eric Gautier) is outstanding – Salles shot everything on location and has painstakingly traced the actual route that Ernesto and Alberto took on their journey. The camera work allows us to see the wild desolate Argentinian Pampas, the deserts of Chile, the snowy peaks of the Peruvian Andes and the haunting spirit world of Machu Picchu. The casting is equally stellar – Garcia Bernal’s face exudes sensitivity and inner upheaval as he witnesses the things that will change him forever. Rodrigo de la Serna plays the wild, fun-loving Alberto in a brilliant performance that is complex and nuanced enough to be at once both comedic and tragic. The rest of the cast is equally well chosen. In a nice spot, Salles shows us a series of faces (hardened and etched faces) as the ending credits roll that are meant to suggest black and white stills but are really the people standing still, shot probably by a hand-held.

The only thing that I felt could’ve been done a little differently was the portrayal of the young Ernesto Guevara, which at times, seemed almost Christ-like, especially Ernesto among the lepers. I’ve heard that director Salles cut a couple of grittier scenes; for example, Ernesto and Alberto sharing a prostitute and Ernesto having sex with a leper, that I think would’ve given a more realistic feel but that is a very minor quibble. I have also read that the film was shot sequentially, in chronological order, which provides a true sense of time passage and distance traveled. Ernesto Guevara again:

Wandering round our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me anymore. At least I’m not the same me I was.

Since the release of, ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’, there has been scads of commentary -- some of it angrily taking the filmmakers to task for glorifying a person who later became, inarguably, a ferocious guerilla fighter and killer, eventually helping to establish a harsh and repressive regime in Cuba, equal to that which it replaced. It really doesn’t matter, though – we all start out in similar fashion and this film simply examines someone of great historical importance at a crucial and pivotal point in his life. For that reason alone, this is a beautiful and daring film that need not apologize for anything.

Marc Goldin currently lives in Chicago, with three cats, each one more long-haired than the last. Interests have ranged from medieval monasticism to discontinued stations on the London Underground – literary likes too diverse (some would say schizo) to list here although the last several years have been witness to an intimacy with Scottish and Irish literature. American Southern and Beat era lit also account for some of the ‘missing years’. Music tastes run the gamut from Cuban Danzon to Ska (all three waves but having a specific attachment to the second, two-tone period) to the Tuvan throat singers. Has written book reviews for a now defunct Irish literature site and has several short stories in various stages of development. Mad for black and white photography and aspires to someday have a complete collection of photos documenting every close in the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh. Works in the IT dept. of a French company in the current political climate. In football, supports Chelsea, Hibs, and for the sake of employment security, Marseille.

© 2004 Laura Hird All rights reserved.