Film Review by Richard Titelus

The Motorcycle Diaries

Directed by Walter Salles

In January 1952, two Argentine students embarked on a journey 
to see Latin America, a continent that they had largely known 
only through books.

The students — one a medical student specialising in leprosy, 
the other a biochemist — were profoundly affected by the 
landscape, friendships and experiences which they would encounter 
along the way. Both would go on to make a significant and 
enduring contribution to the political, economic and medical 
landscape of the 20th Century.

The two young men were Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the co-leader of 
the successful Cuban Revolution and Alberto Granado, one of the 
early initiators of Cuba's world-renowned biotechnology program. 
The film is based on the two books written by the men of their 
journey through four countries in South America — Argentina, 
Chile, Peru and finishing in Caracas, Venezuela.

More than 37 years have passed since Che's execution at aged 39 
by the Bolivian Army (at the behest of the CIA), and while this 
has served to enhance his mythical stature it has also served to 
simplify and dichotomise the legacy he left to the world.

A cinematic portrayal of the life of one of the iconic 
revolutionaries of the 20th Century was always going to be a hard 
task — does one attempt a portrait of the political achievements 
of Che or does one attempt to look behind the aura of the man to 
see what made him do what he did and why?

He is seen as either a liberator and fighter for justice or an 
unyielding and uncompromising guerrilla (or, as some in the 
bourgeois media today would say — a terrorist) which belies the 
subtleties and complexities that drove the impassioned Che.

This movie is an attempt to reveal the man as he took a long and 
difficult journey of discovery — both physically and 
spiritually.

The cinematic portrayal of Ernesto Guevara and the journey he 
undertook is assisted by following as closely as possible the 
original route taken by Guevara and by the use of actors from the 
countries through which he passed. The language used by the pair 
as well as the scenery is also quite colourful.

Guevara and Granado start their journey in Buenos Aires, 
Argentina with an emotional farewell to their families before 
heading out on the open road on an old 500cc Norton motorbike, 
optimistically nicknamed La Poderosa — "The Mighty One".

(In real life it was called La Poderosa II, the first being the 
motorised bicycle used by Che on his earlier journey around 
Argentina.)

After a farewell visit with Ernesto's aristocratic girlfriend 
Chichina Ferreira (Ernesto himself came from an upper-middle 
class family) in Miramar — where the two travellers are made to 
sleep in a tent on the grounds of her father's estate — they 
start their journey in earnest.

The going is rough and tough as dirt roads, frequent spills and 
mechanical failures slowed their speed and patience.

They head towards Chile through the beautiful alpine region of 
Bariloche in southern Argentina with its deep, clear lakes, 
expansive forests and snow-capped peaks.

They enter Chile with little means of support and appeal to 
people along the way to help them gain food, shelter and 
mechanical repairs — often in imaginative and ingenious ways.

However it is the honesty and sincerity of Ernesto which mostly 
allows them to enter into people's homes and hearts.

In the great dry expanse of the Atacama Desert they meet a former 
farming couple who have been forced off their land by large 
commercial farm interests and are now looking for work at the US-
owned Chuquicamata Mine (the world's largest open cut copper 
mine).

The couple reveal to Ernesto that they had been hounded by 
authorities in Chile for being Communists. This is one of the 
first experiences Ernesto has that convinces him of the 
integrity, earnestness and hunger for justice which drives those 
who call themselves Communists, and thus begins his inexorable 
pull in that direction.

On arrival in the Peruvian capital Lima they meet Dr Pesce, one 
of the most important leper researchers in Latin America. The 
doctor makes arrangements for them to work in the largest leper 
colony in South America, in the jungle on the Amazon River.

Ernesto and Alberto's work there not only transforms their own 
lives but also the lives of the people around them — both the 
lepers whom they will touch without the regulatory gloves 
(leprosy is not contagious) and the doctors and nuns who work 
there.

The two finally arrive in Venezuela at the end of the South 
American journey — but at the cusp of far bigger journeys that 
each will soon face.

Real life in Latin America

The movie is about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of 
extreme poverty and adversity faced by many people in South 
America.

Our current world leaders could benefit from undertaking a 
similar journey to the one undertaken by Ernesto so that they 
would more readily be able to comprehend and empathise with the 
suffering and desperation of the poor and marginalised peoples of 
the world.

As it is, the closest they get to a motorbike and the world's 
poor is the motorcade in front of their limo as they arrive at 
yet another globalisation talk-fest in some developing country — 
where they will announce yet more ways to screw the workers and 
other oppressed classes.

The Motorcycle Diaries opens nationally on December 16 at 
selected cinemas.

Perth: The Australia Cuba Friendship Society is holding a 
special preview screening on Friday 10 December at the Luna 
Cinema, 6pm, $15.