Motorcycle Diaries, the [DVD]

The beauty of the South American landscape and of Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Bad Education) gives The Motorcycle Diaries a charisma that is decidedly apolitical. But this portrait of the young Che Guevara (later to become a militant revolutionary) is half buddy-movie, half social commentary--and while that may seem an unholy hybrid, under the guidance of Brazillian director Walter Salles (Central Station) the movie is quietly passionate. Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna, a lusty and engaging actor) set off from Buenos Aires, hoping to circumnavigate the continent on a leaky motorcycle. They end up travelling more by foot, hitchhiking, and raft, but their experience of the land and the people affects them profoundly. No movie could affect an audience the same way, but The Motorcycle Diaries gives a soulful glimpse of an awakening social conscience, and that's worth experiencing. --Bret Fetzer

Let the world change you... and you can change the world

Based on the journals of both Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna) and Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal), the man who would later become 'Che', The Motorcycle Diaries follows a journey of self-discovery, tracing the origins of a revolutionary heart.

With a highly romantic sense of adventure, the two friends leave their familiar surrounding in Buenos Aires on 'The Mighty One' - a rickety 1939 Norton 500. Although the bike breaks down in the course of their eight month journey, they press onward, hitching rides along the way. As they start to see a different Latin America in the people they meet on the road, the diverse geography they encounter begins to reflect their own shifting perspectives. They continue to the heights of Machu Picchu, where the majestic ruins and the extraordinary significance of the Inca heritage have a profound impact on the young men. When they arrive at a leper colony deep in the Peruvian Amazon, the two are beginning to question the value of progress as defined by economic systems that leave so many people beyond their reach. Their experiences at the colony awaken within them the men they will later become.

Directed by Walter Salles, The Motorcycle Diaries is a beautiful and tender insight into the life of Che Guevara, one of the most memorable and iconic figures of the 20th Century.

Spanish with English Subtitles.

- DVD extras:

Cast and Crew interviews

Alberto Granado interview

Behind the Scenes footage

'Making Of' Featurette

Deleted Scenes

Theatrical trailer

In 1952, a young medical student and a biochemist from Argentina set off on a road trip across South America. As the two young men straddled their beaten up motorcycle, they talked in awed tones of the incredible sights they were about to experience. The record of their trip may have disappeared into the ether, had one of the riders departing on that fateful day not been the future insurrectionary figurehead of the Cuban revolution, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal). The young Che's travelling companion was his best friend, Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), and their simple goal was to enjoy themselves and possibly meet some girls along the way.

As Ernesto and Alberto’s trip unfolds at the behest of their spluttering motorcycle, the boys begin to discover more about themselves than they ever imagined possible. Ernesto clings tightly to his ideals throughout, and delights in the opportunity to put them into practice. His refusal to spend the $20 given to him by his girlfriend, Chichina Ferreyra (Mia Maestro), constantly angers his travelling companion, as the two succumb to pangs of hunger. Ernesto's charitable nature comes to the fore when he reveals that he gave the money to a pair of out-of-work illegal immigrants.

The trip winds down as the friends offer their medical expertise to a leper colony in Peru, with the duo's youthful folly acquiescing to adulthood and the dawning realization of where they should head in life. Based on the books "The Motorcycle Diaries" (by Guevara) and "Travelling with Che Guevara" (by Granado), director Walter Salles ("Central Station") pulls some highly accomplished performances from his two leads. The South American landscape is breathtakingly captured on camera, with Salles vividly reproducing a continent beleaguered by poverty and disease, but containing a population in possession of an unshakeable sense of optimism--as beautifully personified by Guevara and Granado.