The next time that the Travel Channel starts to bore you into a languid haze,
try this entertainment alternative: Los diarios moticicletas,or
"The Motorcycle Diaries", a 2004 film exploring a roadtrip taken by a
young Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna (years before the Cuban
Revolution) and his good friend, Alberto Granado. Using the written memoirs of Guevara, as he avidly recorded his life in personal journals, an insightful and dramatic biopic emerges. At the ripe old age of 23, Guevara left behind his studies of medicine to journey with fellow student of biochemistry Granado to embark on an eight month journey through South America aboard a rickety motorcycle, with their end destination being a leprosy hospital in San Pablo, located in the Amazon rainforest. What starts as an innocent bit of fun filled with pranks and mishaps quietly twists into a pivotal experience.
This roadtrip is often credited with inspiring Ernesto Guevara to become more political, and to greatly motivate his future as a guerrilla leader. As they traveled through Chile and Peru, the poverty and mistreatment of miners, indigenous people, and specifically one young Communist couple left a strong impression on Guevara. By the time of his 24th birthday, celebrated at the colony with the patients, doctors, and Granado, Guevara affirmed part of his political identity, remarking that a unified Latin America should be the true state of the people.
This movie draws me in again and again. Aside from the subtle, poignant undercurrent of social injustice experienced by Guevara and Granado as well as the pranks, setbacks, and revealing moments between the two amigos, the film truly does take you on a journey through the stunning landscapes of South America, a sight not too often explored. As I once thought while watching, "Las montañas, el río, el cielo, el gente...todo está inspirador. "
The mountains, the river, the sky, the people...all is inspiring.
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