FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
An opening intertitle discloses, “This isn’t a tale of heroic feats.” In fact, it’s a coming-of-age
road film careful not to offend. In 1952, handsome medical student Ernesto
Guevara (later to be renamed Che and played by Gael García Bernal) and
the older, pudgy Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) are two middle-class
Argentineans who set out to explore the South American continent on a 1939
Norton 500 motorcycle. They hope to arrive in Venezuela in time for Granado's
30th birthday. Their first destination is the home of Guevara's aristocratic girlfriend Chichina (Mía Maestro)
and her pretentious family. Upon arriving at the chateau, Alberto asks, "Where
the f--- are we, Switzerland?" Despite Guevara's advances, Chichina remains virtuous,
while Granado rambunctiously scores with a maid. Back on the road, it's only a matter of time until
the rundown bike gives out, and the men are forced to hitchhike, coming
into contact with the people of the land.
The two historic personalities are reduced to opposing stock figures. Granado is
such a loud and obnoxious freeloader it's a wonder why anyone would want to
spend five minutes let alone five months in his company. It's as if De la Sena
was directed to be more like John Belushi. Predictably, Guevara is the good
doctor, ministering comfort to the dying with a soft, gentle whisper. Coming in
contact with the indigenous population, Ernesto remarks in a voice-over, "Their
faces were tragic and haunting." Because the economically disenfranchised drift
in and out of his journey, only offering snapshots of themselves,
Ernesto's ruminations come across as a bit patronizing. And the portrayal of Guevara,
written one-dimensionally, remains symbolic, just as he does on countless
T-shirts.
The breathtaking scenery is the real star of the film, especially of Machu Picchu
with streams of fog falling and rising amidst the ruins. Overall the film is like a
series of pretty postcards with poor people - Masterpiece Theatre for
Marxists - offering little in political insight. At the end,
an intertitle reveals Guevara was killed in 1967 with CIA support. Only then
is American interventionism in Latin America directly addressed. Now there's
compelling political dynamite. Kent Turner
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