At
its heart, The Motorcycle Diaries is a road
trip/coming-of-age film comparable to some others, but still one of
the better examples of the genre thanks to excellent acting, gorgeous
cinematography, engaging direction, and a healthy dose of character
development. However, it is also a biographical story about the
early days of Che Guevara's life, traveling through South America and
learning about the world, and shaping the opinions he would carry with
him the rest of his life. The Motorcycle Diaries
definitely works better as a straight drama than as a biography, and
in fact, director Walter Salles is quite content in letting the story
develop without drawing attention to the fact that it is really about
the molding of one of the most important political figures of the 20th
Century. It's story of a boy becoming a man, and once he
arrives, he sees that there is little importance in being a man, and
what is important is the strength in communities, with shared
interests, ideals, and goals.
In the early
50s, Alberto (Bernal,
I'm with Lucy)
and Ernesto (De la Serna) are friends who decide to
"discover the world" by traveling throughout South America on their
beat-up old motorcycle, and see the countries and people residing
within them first-hand, hoping mostly for some fun and adventure along
the way. Throughout the course of their journey, the two men
have some good times as well as bad, and Ernesto in particular sees
something deeper in meeting the downtrodden and diseased people,
hearing an inner voice that helps him see that there is more to life
than he originally thought.
First, I must
say that there are going to be two types of people who are going to
view The Motorcycle Diaries, and as a result, two
different opinions will probably form as to how successful the film
is. The primary group of people are looking to see a good film,
which director Walter Salles (Central
Station) has definitely delivered. Removing all of the
historical significance from the equation, this is an often
interesting and enriching tale of friendship and of Latin America as
it existed back in the early 50s. There is a profundity to the
slow periods of the film, and the richness of the locales, combined
with the enlightenment that occurs in two young men, makes this a
rewarding and pleasurable movie-going experience.
The secondary
group of viewers will be those coming into the film in order to see or
learn more about Che Guevara, particularly people who have read the
books on which this adventure is based. To these viewers, there
may be limitations as to how successful the film is, as Salles doesn't
come close to touching all of the bases, and isn't always striving for
accuracy in terms of the events or the inner workings of Guevara's
mind. Salles has made a conscious decision to portray Ernesto as
a noble everyman, stripping away many of the distinctive layers that
made Che what he was, even before he had major political aspirations.
So how to
review this film? Well, this has always been an easy decision
for me. I always strive to take each film as a unique entity,
divorcing it from the literature or events from which it is inspired.
On that note, The Motorcycle Diaries, even with some
occasional lulls, is a very entertaining, interesting and engaging
experience, and one of the better films of 2004. The
performances by Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna (who is an
actual descendant of Che's) are first-rate, and the supporting
players, many of whom are not experienced actors, gives the film an
authentic feel that pays off extremely well during the movie's more
poignant moments,
It is a film that can be enjoyed with or
without the political context right up until the very end (in fact,
some viewers may not really be conscious that it is based on Guevara's
life until the epilogue), and which offers enough food for thought in
addition to stimulating entertainment to make you want to take a trip
with these two young and adventurous young men on more than one
occasion.
Qwipster's rating:
©2005 Vince Leo
