Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45426 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-31
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Synopsis
In 1952, a young medical student and a biochemist from Argentina set off on a road trip across South America. As they straddled their beaten up motorcycle, the men talked in awed tones of the sights they were about to experience. The record of their trip may have disappeared into the ether if one of the riders departing on that fateful day hadn't been the future insurrectionary figurehead of the Cuban revolution, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (played here by Gael Garcia Bernal). The young Che's companion on the trip was his best friend, Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), with their simple goals being to enjoy themselves, and meet some girls along the way. As the trip unfolds at the behest of their spluttering motorcycle, the boys 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 provided 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.

Customer Reviews

A lovely film.
I found this a highly engaging account of the early life and times of Ernesto Che Guevara (for it is he). Having never read the said diaries, I have no idea as to whether the film is faithful to historical detail or not, but it works on the level of being a very good road movie that charts the developing friendship between two men as they journey through South America, and their responses to the levels of inequality that they see there. The subtitles are fine, and the story pulls you along with it, planting you firmly on the side of the two travellers and with Ernesto in particular. The film is low budget and charming with it. It is certainly better than the great majority of films being churned out at present, being intelligent and well-crafted. There are occasional shafts of humour to lighten the mood, and if you get it - and I would recommend that you see it - expect to be entertained, but be aware that this is a film that makes you think, a rare commodity in today's market.

motorcycle diaries
Brilliant film! The acting is top notch and the cinamography is stunning. Superb portrate of Che Guevara.