Review

Review Date: 12-December-04
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

First, the bad news: the motorcycle immortalized in this movie bites the dust about halfway through, yielding the stage to trucks, planes, rafts, oxcarts, and dirty feet. The good news: her loss (mourned with tears) in no way dampens the great good spirit of this enchanting film, which deals with men, friendship, growing up, and the experiences that change your life.

Like many Americans, I was first introduced to actor Gael Garcia Bernal in "Y Tu Mamá También," and his utterly natural performance there made me think he must be a callow youth well manipulated by the director into lampooning himself for the camera. But in "The Motorcycle Diaries" Bernal plays an entirely different sort of young man with just as much conviction (and more majesty than you'd think someone so scrawny could command). As future communist organizer Ernesto "Ché" Guevara, Bernal effortlessly captures the integrity and drive of a visionary en route to big things. The movie covers the months in 1952 when Guevara left behind a comfortable Buenos Aires home and a nearly finished medical degree to embark on an epic road trip with his good friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). Motoring (and later hitchhiking, walking, and poling) through Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela, Ernesto and Alberto pursue women, survive accidents, weather snow and heat, scrounge for food, and take in kilometers of glorious scenery. Along the way, Ernesto cultivates a deep attachment to the land and its inhabitants, coming to view the segregation he sees in a leper colony as indicative of the unnecessary separation of Latin American nations and the unjust gulf between the haves and have-nots. He records his thoughts in letters to his mother and in a diary, later published, which points to the path he eventually chooses.

Catching the (counter)cultural icon at the start of his journey instead of its revolutionary middle or tragic end, director Walter Salles spins a yarn filled with humor, wonder, and the adventure of discovery. "The Motorcycle Diaries" refrains from idolizing Ernesto until the very end; for the most part, he and Alberto serve as examples of what can happen when idealism meets intelligence and enthusiasm. They also illustrate what happens when two buddies head out on the road together. If Bernal makes for a believable hero (sensitive, noble, and painfully honest), de la Serna embodies the perfect sidekick (jovial, sarcastic, and coarsely matter-of-fact). Much of the movie's pleasure derives from the simple chemistry of two guys living life to the fullest in the shelter of each other's company. Such a story is worth telling in any context and generation. Even if you didn't know that Ernesto went on to be Somebody, his eventful odyssey with his friend and his people would certainly entertain, probably enlighten, and potentially inspire.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.