Motorcycle Diaries

aka: Diarios de Motocicleta
Argentina / Brazil 2004, 128 minutes
Dir. Walter Salles
In Spanish with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema / Adventure, Road Movie

Topics: Period 1950s.

Feat. Gael Garcia Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mercedes Morán

Aroview: Sumptuously filmed two-wheeled road trip across 1950s South America with the youthful, asthmatic Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Bernal), and friend Alberto Granado riding pillion.

Capturing the iconic 20th century hero on the cusp of adulthood, Guevara finds himself profoundly moved by first time encounters with the impoverished millions of the Latin continent, becoming the key moment in his conversion to 'revolution' in Cuba and elsewhere. That the film traverses a plethora of beautiful rural landscapes, clinches the historical moment with a culturally exotic backdrop.

As a romantic paean to the freedom and uncomplicated idealism of youth, this teeters into naivity at times, but finally succeeds with its tender and truthful central portrait of male friendship.

NZ International Film Festival 2004
Adopt-a-Movie Kindly Adopted by Ian Pryor