Quartile rating: 7/10 · 3 ratings
Based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he and best friend Alberto Granado had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a handsomely crafted road movie elevated most clearly by its stunning South American cinematography — Walter Salles and DoP Eric Gautier capture the continent's landscapes with breathtaking authenticity. Gael García Bernal gives a charismatic and understated performance as the young Guevara, though the film sometimes feels episodic and emotionally restrained to a fault. The plot follows a fairly conventional coming-of-age/road-trip structure, gaining weight mainly from the historical context of its protagonist. Its novelty lies in its intimate, humanizing portrait of a pre-revolutionary Guevara, though the road-movie framework is familiar. The ending — Guevara swimming across the Amazon to reach the lepers — is quietly moving and symbolically resonant, if not dramatically explosive.