| Major Cast | |
|---|---|
| Gael García Bernal | as Ernesto "Fuser" Guevara |
| Rodrigo de la Serna | as Alberto "Mial" Granado |
| Mercedes Morán | as Celia de la Serna |
| Jean Pierre Noher | as Ernesto Guevara Lynch |
| Facundo Espinosa | as Tomás Granado |
| Mía Maestro | as Chichina Ferraya |
| Lucas Oro | as Roberto Guevara |
| Marina Glezer | as Celita Guevara |
| Sofia Bertolotto | as Ana María Guevara |
| Franco Solazzi | as Juan Martín Guevara |
| Ricardo Díaz Mourelle | as Uncle Jorge |
| Sergio Boris | as Young Traveler |
| Daniel Cargieman | as Young Traveler |
| Diego Giorzi | as Rodolfo |
| Gustavo Bueno | as Doctor Hugo Pesce |
| Matías Strafe | as Chichina's Friend |
| Alberto Granado | as himself (cameo at end of film) |
| MPAA Rating: | PG |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures |
| Production Company: | Marble Arch Productions |
| Release Date (US): | 15 January 2004 |
| Domestic Box Office (IMDB): | $? |
| Foreign Box Office: | $? |
| Production Budget: | $? (Est.) |
On 4 January 1952, two young men leave Buenos Aires. One is Alberto Granado, 29, a biochemist. The other is Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, 23, just a semester short of his medical degree. They ride an old Norton 500cc motorcycle that Granado calls "The Mighty One" ("La Poderosa") off into the interior of South America.
This wanderjahr is an idea the two friends have been discussing for years. Granado, the instigator of the plan, proposes to cross the Andes into Chile, then proceed north up the coast to the Atacama Desert and visit some mines in the mountains. After that they will head to the old Inca shrine at Machu Picchu, then descend to San Pablo, a lepresarium on the upper Amazon River, where they will volunteer for several weeks to gain some practical experience in medicine. So the trip, which started as pure adventure, also has a practical purpose. Granado hopes to complete the journey by his thirtieth birthday in April. (He also has a personal goal: to court as many women as possible along the way.)
Ernesto is troubled by asthma, and they obtain the blessing of his parents with some difficulty. Their first stop is at Miramar, Argentina, a resort town where Ernesto's girl friend Chichina Ferraya is spending the summer with friends. The two-day stop extends into eight before Ernesto can drag himself away. Chichina promises to wait for him, but not forever.
The two men cross into Chile on 14 February. They find snow in the mountains despite the season, and the old bike also breaks down rather frequently. Lapses of attention on the part of whoever is driving complete the picture, causing accidents. They persevere through these difficulties, relying on Granado's fast talk for favors when money runs short, and are well along toward Atacama when La Poderosa fails completely. Granado is forced to sell her for scrap. Thereafter they walk or hitch rides. Approaching the Chuquicamata copper mine at night, they meet a homeless couple freezing in the thin mountain air. These people had lost their jobs because they are Communists, and were subsequently thrown out of their home. Ernesto is struck by the massive injustice of the couple's plight, and ashamed to confess that he and Alberto are not looking for work but only passing through. The next day he becomes angry at the callous way the mine bosses treat prospective workers. But he can do little about it.
But it is only when the travelers reach Machu Picchu that the full impact of these experiences hits home to Ernesto. He muses about how a civilization capable of building such beauty could be destroyed by invaders whose reign led to the polluted urban decay of nearby Lima. His reflections are interrupted by Granado, who shares with him a dream to peacefully revolutionize and transform modern South America, to which Guevara quickly retorts: "A revolution without guns? It will never work."
The friends then descend to the banks of the Amazon River in Peru. There they board a river steamship to travel to the San Pablo Lepresarium, where they will spend three weeks volunteering. Granado is angry when he learns that Guevara gave their last $15 to the couple at the mine. He recovers nicely, though, by winning a fistful of cash at the ship's gambling table. At the lepresarium, Guevara breaks a major rule by refusing to wear rubber gloves when working with the patients. With their dedication and enthusiasm, he and Granado become fast friends with doctors and patients alike. At the end of their term, they are given a raft with which to continue their journey. Guevara makes a stirring speech, telling of his dream of a unified, egalitarian Latin America.
The loss of La Poderosa has put them weeks behind schedule. Finally, on 26 July, they arrive in Venezuela, and there comes the moment they must part. Granado has taken a job at Cabo Blanco in Caracas. The two friends do not know if they will meet again; Guevara tells Granado he has a lot of thinking to do. At the last, Granado stands watching the departure of the plane that carries Guevara back to Buenos Aires where he will complete his degree.
This film is remarkably faithful to the historical facts of the journey. Of course, that journey is filled with real drama, and is doubly interesting because it foreshadows the futures of the two travelers, which are now also history. Ernesto Guevara did become a doctor, as Granado had promised his parents, and then he became "Che" Guevara, the revolutionary who was killed in the jungles of Bolivia in October 1967. Before that, he invited Granado to visit Cuba. A year later, Granado moved there with his family, taking a position as professor of medicine at the University of Havana. In 1962, he founded the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Santiago with a group of colleagues. This medical department, at Cuba's second largest city, was the second in Cuba. Granado served as a senior professor there until 1974. Then he became Cuba's health minister, and thus played a large part in creating the island nation's health system, renowned as one of the signal achievements of the revolution. He lived until 2011.
Almost 100 actors took part in the cast. The production involved an international team. The director is Brazilian, the cinematographer Eric Gautier is French, the producers are American, the score was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, an Argentinian. The screenwriter, José Rivera, is the first Puerto Rican to be nominated for an Oscar. Gael García Bernal is Mexican; Rodrigo de la Serna is from Argentina.1
The production team followed the same paths Guevara and Granado took in 1952. Alberto Granado accompanied them for part of the journey. He visited the San Pablo Lepresarium and was delighted to find that some of the people there remembered him. Everyone worked hard to bring great verisimilitude to the work.2 An example: the scene in which Guevara swims the Amazon was filmed as García Bernal, over three nights, actually did the swim.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 15 January 2004 to a standing ovation. It went on to several other film festivals, from New Zealand to Finland. It received general approval from critics3 and won numerous awards. For me it has an undeniable charm and shows the transition of two young carefree men into full-fledged adults who carry a share of the cares of an imperfect world in their souls.
My Rating:
10 out of 10
Capsule review: The Motorcycle Diaries is well done and very enjoyable, with breath-taking South American vistas and a good portion of humor. But, for me, the value of this film is that it gives us a glimpse into the life of the young Guevara, teaching us about how his ideals, his hunger for justice, were formed.
| IMDB Rating: 7.8 | Raters: 89,720 |
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