
In 1952, twenty-three year old medical student Ernesto Guevara de la Serna - Fuser to his friends and later better known as 'Ernesto Che Guevara' - one semester away from graduation, decides to postpone his last semester to accompany his twenty-nine year old biochemist friend 'Alberto Granado' - Mial to his friends - on his four month, 8,000 km long dream motorcycle trip throughout South America starting from their home in Buenos Aires. Their quest is to see things they've on... (Full plot summary below)
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In 1952, twenty-three year old medical student Ernesto Guevara de la Serna - Fuser to his friends and later better known as 'Ernesto Che Guevara' - one semester away from graduation, decides to postpone his last semester to accompany his twenty-nine year old biochemist friend 'Alberto Granado' - Mial to his friends - on his four month, 8,000 km long dream motorcycle trip throughout South America starting from their home in Buenos Aires. Their quest is to see things they've only read about in books about the continent on which they live, and to finish that quest on Alberto's thirtieth birthday on the other side of the continent in the Guajira Peninsula in Venezuela. Not all on this trip goes according to their rough plan due to a broken down motorbike, a continual lack of money (they often stretching the truth to gain the favor of a variety of strangers to help them), arguments between the two in their frequent isolation solely with each other, their raging libidos which sometimes get them into trouble, and dealing with Fuser's chronic asthma. But a chance encounter with a couple of Communists in the Chilean desert and an extended visit to the San Pablo Leper Colony in the Perúvian Amazon Basin among other things profoundly affects what each will want to do with his life and the bond each has with the other.
Leave your thoughts about The Motorcycle Diaries.
| Jam! MoviesLouis B. HobsonWhether he's capturing the majesty of mountain passes, the awe-inspiring splendour of ancient cities or the souls of the people as registered on their weathered faces, Gautier draws the audience into each moment and emotion. |
| Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittOne thing few will disagree on is the quality of the film's acting, especially by Gael García Bernal as Guevara and Rodrigo de la Serna as his friend. Both effortlessly embody the footloose, sometimes feckless quality of this "On the Road"-style adventure. |
| Portland OregonianShawn LevyThe result is a rare and precious work. The Motorcycle Diaries is an epic road movie with everything you'd want from such a film: laughs, kicks, adventures, pathos, poetry, natural beauty, strange encounters and friendship tested and strengthened. |
| Roanoke Times (Virginia)Beth JonesWith his expressive face Bernal seems to show us the exact moment when Guevara turned into a revolutionary determined to rescue the poor of the earth. |
| Seattle TimesMoira MacDonaldYou get so caught up in the beauty of the images, and lost in the weathered faces found along the way, you quite forget that you're traveling with Che Guevara -- which is, of course, exactly what the original experience would be. |
| Spirituality and PracticeFrederic and Mary Ann BrussatThe Motorcycle Diaries is an extraordinary drama about the spiritual transformation that turns an earnest young man into a crusader for justice. |
| Los Angeles Daily NewsBob StraussA film about the sowing of revolution designed for the approval of bourgeois gentlefolk -- for the very type of person that Che, once one himself, would not think twice about putting a bullet into. |
| TeletextAnnette Dasey'An intelligent and inspiring portrait of how one experience can change a person's life.' |
| Film Journal InternationalErica AbeelShould be made mandatory viewing in places low and high. |
| BBC.comAdrian HenniganIt provides a tender and memorable insight into one of the 20th century's most iconic figures. |