Dennis Schwartz Is There Any Good in Saying Everything About a Movie?

DENNIS SCHWARTZ IS THERE ANY GOOD

IN SAYING

EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, THE (Diarios de motocicleta) (director: Walter Sallers; screenwriters: Jose Rivera/from the books "The Motorcycle Diaries" by Ernesto Che Guevara and "With Che Through Latin America" by Alberto Granado; cinematographer: Eric Gautier; editor: Daniel Rezende; music: Gustavo Santaolalla; cast: Gael Garcнa Bernal (Ernesto Guevara de la Serna), Rodrigo de la Serna (Alberto Granado), Mнa Maestro (Chichina Ferreyra), Jorge Chiarella (Dr. Bresciani), Mercedes Moran (Celia de la Serna), Jean Pierre Noher (Ernesto Guevara Lynch); Runtime: 126; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Edgar Tenembaum/Michael Nozik/Karen Tenkhoff; Focus Features; 2004-USA/UK/Argentina/Germany-in Spanish with English subtitles)

"Left me less than sated and unprepared for its apolitical stance on a subject who was known for his leftist radicalism."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Director Walter Salles ("Central Station"/"Behind the Sun") and executive producer Robert Redford present a touristy travelogue adventure in the preradicalized days of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara (before he dubbed himself as Che) with this visually stunning but lightweight road movie, one that left me less than sated and unprepared for its apolitical stance on a subject who was known for his leftist radicalism. It's taken from a screenplay by Jose Rivera that is based on the books The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto (Chй) Guevara and Traveling with Chй Guevara by Alberto Granado. Most of the story is taken from Granado's book, which might explain why the politics was softened. It revels in the so-called motorcycle road-trip; the motorcycle, named La Poderosa, is a sputtering machine that is always "pissing oil" -- a 1939 Norton 500 that is abandoned due to a breakdown in Chile less than halfway through the adventure (the movie also suffers from a breakdown at that point, as it begins to sputter out wishy-washy platitudes to the unfortunate natives the duo contacts without digging in to the causes of the social unrest during the 1950s). The dynamic duo continue on foot and by hitch-hiking, and do their medical thing by volunteering their services in a Peruvian Amazon leper colony run by nuns. This moment of serious devotion comes after they spend most of their trek trying to pick up chicks, hustle for meals and places where to sleep.

The pair from middle-class families were aspiring Argentinian medics - the earnest but droll 23-year-old delicately featured medical student Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael Garcia Bernal) and, the animated bullshitter, the 29-year-old biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). The adventure took them through South America (Argentina, Chile, and Peru) in 1952. By the end of their journey a more serious and soul-searching Ernesto, who learned first-hand the evils of capitalism on the landscape and the indigenous peoples of the continent, yearns to be useful and comments "[I'm] not the same me I was ..."