The Motorcycle Diaries Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)September 24th, 2004
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2004 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
Y tú mamà tambien's Gael Garcia Bernal is back on the road in Walter Salles' latest, which tells the story of the young Ernesto Guevara, who you may remember from such revolutions as "The Cuban" while he was operating under the name Che. I didn't know much about Guevara before I saw this film, other than the impact he had on the stoner t-shirt and poster market. But I can tell you this: Aside from not being an English-language film, Diaries walks and talks like a genuine Best Picture nominee.
Diaries, which Bernal narrates (almost as if reading from some kind of.diary), shows the journey 23-year-old Guevara and friend Alberto Granada (Rodrigo de la Serna, who is actually a relative of Guevara) take in early 1952. Their trip is supposed to take them through all of South America, eventually landing them in a Peruvian leprosy farm, where the two plan to spend three weeks furthering their medical studies. But, like the shooting of Apocalypse Now, the voyage takes much more time and much more money than either of them planned.
There's trouble with the weather, the locals, and their broken-down motorcycle, not to mention the spats Ernesto and Alberto have amongst each other. The two young men are forced to rely on the charity of others, and often have to lie to accomplish this task (it's kind of like being on The Amazing Race). But once they hit the Andes, the asthma-afflicted Ernesto starts to see a different side of his continent. He literally starts to see things in black and white for the first time, and when that happens, we get to see the origin of his political roots.
Laced with the perfect amount of drama, humor, history and lack of forced romance, Diaries is far from being flawless. It does, however, cover all of the bases in terms of being an Oscar contender (especially the ending). You can pencil in de la Serna for a Supporting Actor nod, too - this role has nomination written all over it. Bernal is less successful, but by no means less than acceptable. Plus he has Bad Education coming out (look for that review tomorrow).
More on 'The Motorcycle Diaries'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
