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Directed by: Walter Salles Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna "The Motorcycle Diaries" is the story of a long road trip across the continent of South America taken by two friends, Alberto Granado, a 29 year old Biochemist, and Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, a 23 year old medical student. In case you don't recognize the name, Ernesto would later go on to become "Che" Guevara, communist revolutionary and Castro's right hand man. The story takes the form of a road movie for the majority of the movie, and balances between serious drama and comedy very well through excellent dialogue and acting provided by the Films stars. Gael Garcia Bernal of Y Tu Mama Tambien stars as Ernesto, and Rodrigo de la Serna as his loyal older friend Alberto. Rodrigo is excellent as an older friend who is less interested in self exploration and enlightenment than Ernesto, and is more interested in getting laid in every country in South America and provides excellent comic relief throughout the movie. I'm hoping when Oscar season comes around this film will see a few nominations, if not for acting definitely for the cinematography. This film is one of the most beautifully shot I have seen in quite a while, showing great images of the enviornments of South America, as well as other great images such as shifts to black and while shots showing people attempting to stand still while having their pictures taken. Ultimately the movie's only flaw that I can see is that it attempts to explain the origins of Che Guevara's revolutionary inspirations rather simplisticly, but it is a forgivable flaw as this movie is not really about the communist uprising, but more just a character study of Guevara as a young man. One of my favorite movies of the year RATING: 4.5 PROS: Beautifully shot, Excellent acting CONS: The explanations of how he became who he did is rather simplistic ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/
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Oct 4, 2004 18:46
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:55 |
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saw this movie yesterday. Although it was entertaining, I didn't quite view Che Guevara in such a heroic light after viewing this film - even though that was the intention. The premise was good, but the story was so-so. Good acting though. The movie dragged in quite a few spots. Basically, the movie captures your attention, but doesn't necessarily make you want to see it again. Nothing truly revolutionary about this film. The characters were well developed but I just didn't find their journey particularly interesting. I felt there were many references to jim jarmusch in this movie. I kept seeing elements of the movie 'dead man' in this flick for some reason. The beautiful scenery, the two men on a lonesome trip, The electric guitar background music (very much like neil young's score in dead man) and even the black and white portrait shots of the characters. Not that this film is a copycat of it, I just felt that it stole some things from jj. good, but a one time only flick for me personally. RATING: 3.5
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Oct 5, 2004 19:26
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I saw it almost 2 weeks ago, on the weekend it came out, and I think it's an excellent movie. It combines drama and comedy so well, it's amazingly shot, and I thought the story was very interesting. Yes, it's a little bit communistic and says "you need to be a communist because it's fair", but thats a pretty small part of the movie. It's just a story about how two people changed while traveling across South America. 5.0 - If there is a theater next to you that plays that film, definitely see it before anything else right now.
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Oct 8, 2004 19:28
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I just saw it this evening. Wow, what an astounding film. I went into it being surprised that something that wasn't total crap was made about Che Guevarra. I'm not exactly a big fan, mainly because he's been co-opted by HotTopic RAGEy teens and dirty sociocommie hippies. Still, Gael turns out good work, and the premise interested me. I'll say flat out that it will remind you of 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' if you've seen that. Same basic 'voyage of discovery' schtick, with a healthy dose of the native surroundings. But while the Mexican vistas helped along the story by showing us the variety of social classes in 'Mama', the South American countries portrayed here are invoke nothing less than awe. The people that are along the way also leave a strong lasting impression. It feels just like these folks were on the street. There's no sense of them being actors at all. It's wild stuff. Che's encounter with the sickly old mother left me a little unsettled. The surgery scene had me very uncomfortable, and the Mining Couple's expressions really broke me down. It says a lot of the film when a person's face alone can give you such an emotional response. The only thing I could find fault with was the emphasis on Che's "uniqueness". He's truthful to a fault, he's overly empathetic, loyal and, despite his crippling asthma, can do the work of several olympic swimmers (you'll know the scene when you see it). The later half of the film is dedicated to Che's emotional awakening, leaving his buddy as little more than his sidekick. Anyone know what his girlfriend wrote in the letter, by any chance? 5.0
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Oct 9, 2004 08:04
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Saw it yesterday, blew me away. As stated earlier, the characters Che and his chubby friend meet along their journey are extremely convincing. While watching the movie, it didn't even occur to me that the people they encountered were actors. The movie does a good job of keeping from becoming a political statement, and tells the story of how Che became Che, more than anything else. By watching this, one can understand how he became the revolutionary he did, whether they agree with his fight or not. The interaction between the two main characters is wonderful, and keeps the movie feeling light for the most part, as opposed to the 2 and a half hour long exercise in manic depression it could have been. I concur with FilthyImp's notion that Che's uniqueness was a bit overstated in this film, and a few scenes had me rolling my eyes. All in all, a powerful, astoundingly beautiful movie that I would recommend to anyone. 4.5 Pros: Wonderful scenery, acting, characters, plot, and dialouge. Cons: A few  moments here and there concerning Che's feats and his maturation into the person he is remebered as.edit: I would be guessing the letter was sort of a "Dear John" sort of thing.
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Oct 17, 2004 02:56
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gently caress YOU
Somebody fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Oct 19, 2004 |
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Oct 18, 2004 15:13
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Saw it the other day and I was really impressed. At no point did I think of anyone in the movie as 'acting'. Each character felt real, and you understood all of their problems. As said before there was also a great mix of genuine comedy in there, mostly through Alberto. The cinematography was amazing, and the soundtrack was amazing. The only thing it was somewhat mediocre on was setting up Che's future. I think they kind of stayed in the middle of being a revolutionary movie, and being a humanistic movie, and weren't really sure which way to go. Other than that, I thought it was one of the best movies of the year. 4.5/5
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Nov 13, 2004 19:47
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I would recommend this movie. The story is very real, and the people are very real. The acting is flawless dare I say.....but the casting was done in such a way that there really isn't any room for iffy acting. I loved the imagery in some of the lines delivered only to be portrayed later in the film. The movie was very poetic, and quite emotional. Although it was not a tearjeaker really, and I am susceptible to those types of films. The story of Che Gueverra might have been secondary, but I was hoping to learn more about him, and I expected to see what he did in his revolutionary movements. Nevertheless, We find that anyone with enough motivation and drive can achieve amazing things, and it lets us feel the "human" qualities of any human being, no matter what they do or how they look and act. I give this film a 4.5/5
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Nov 22, 2004 08:08
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I went into this movie not knowing what it was about, but going off the recommendation of other posters that it was 'a very good movie.' I was captivated for the entire film. The story was told beautifully with just the right amount of comic relief and emotion, and a wonderful soundtrack to accompany the film. Some of the more heartfelt scenes were breath taking and awe-inspiring. I was moved by Ernesto's honesty and compassion for human life. The narration was well-paced, and the acting was superb. There is a part in the film where Ernesto critiques a novel, calling it too cliche`. I think that's why when you see black and white photos during the film(not the credits), you aren't seeing the picture, but all the actors posing as if they are in the photo, with slight movement to show that we are actually seeing film. I thought that was a neat twist, because a lot of movies based on real events show the black and whites throughout the film, and this was a good way to avoid the cliche(at least in my opinion, because I've never seen it done this way before) I'll give this movie a 5, because I can't complain about anything in it, the movie surpassed my expectations, and it strengthened my desire to travel and experience personal growth and adventure. 5.0
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Nov 27, 2004 18:43
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I would recommend anyone and everyone go see this if it is still playing in your local theater. The scenery alone is worth the price of admission. The acting is excellent, and the movie pretty much lets you draw your own conclusion. The only moment I saw in the movie that was neither in Che's diary nor in the book that Granado later wrote (something like Through Latin America with Che...I havent read it in a long while) was the part where Che swims across the river, just as an FYI for anyone who is interested in the historical accuracy. A few other things, like name changes (Anaconda mine instead of Braden(sp?) mine, etc) dont really mar the film at all. Also found the comedic elements to be well done and well paced. Probably my favorite film of 2004, and definatley in my all time top-10. Edited to add: The scene at Machu Picchu was one of the most poigniant moments Ive ever seen on film. 5.0/5.5 NattyBo fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Nov 28, 2004 |
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Nov 28, 2004 07:11
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I enjoyed this movie thoroughly, and agree with pretty much all of the comments from earlier posters. I am adding that I saw this on DVD, and have a big complaint with the DVD itself. They seem to have gotten "english subtitles" confused with "english subtitles for the hearing impaired" as at the top of the screen, they had brackets with what noises were happening and who was talking, it is VERY distracting, and a really lame way to cut corners in producing this DVD. Again, fantastic movie, my only gripe is about the DVD release specifically. 5/5
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Mar 1, 2005 00:07
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I just finished watching this film about 10 minutes ago, and I must say, it was absolutely amazing. I loved every minute of the film. Every scene. Every line. Every character. It all clicked. It contained some of the poignant scenes I've ever seen, like when the lepers smuggle food for Che, and when they find Macchu Picchu. It's movies like this that make me despise hollywood for not attributing enough accolades to such a fine picture, but then again, what more can we expect from hollywood. 5/5
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Mar 5, 2005 07:19
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quote:aWall came out of the closet to say: For this particular DVD you don't need to select subtitles. It displays them automatically without those annoying overhead text.
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Mar 6, 2005 00:44
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:55 |
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Beautifully shot, I mean, South America is generally represented with ruins, churches, and jungle. They show you the Andes, Macchu Piccu (wonderfully, even a short scene at the Intihuana,) Cuzco, Lima, as well as some wonderful shots of the non-jungle greenery. This is an wonderful 'manhood journey' film, and the political context, progressive as his eyes are seeing all that's about him, it isn't overdone, patronizing, or preachy; it's very as-a-matter-of-factly and plainly seen and stated as it would be, when discovered on a monumental self-journey (both literal and figuratively.) The casting is well done, and the acting is well in place, as per the characters (not overdone, not too subtle.) Take your time to see this one, I mean really see, not playing on your laptop in a window while you browse the forums, or something. I'm also drat curious about the 'reality' of the leper colony. Makeup or not? drat hard to tell, I might just side with 'real victims (of leprosy, obviously the amputees were real.) This isn't a multi-watchable movie, but it's a must-watch once, 'pay-the-gently caress-attention and appreciate it' film. Also, the soundtrack is gorgeous. If half of the things that Che did in this film are true, I have a lot of admiration for this man. 4.5/5
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Feb 15, 2006 08:21
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