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Product Description

An inspirational adventure based on the true story of two young men whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across latin america becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/27/2009 Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal Mia Maestro Run time: 127 minutes Rating: R

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

Customer Reviews:

• Enchanting & memorable
  I grew up during the Cold War when the USSR was the personfication of Evil and anybody left of Reagan was suspect. Listening to the nightly news, history books, and political pundits, one would think that Che Guevara was the Hammer of Evil; however, as I have learned since then, life is much more complicated than what was painted for me then.
  
  The film shows the very human side of a young Ernesto Guevara as he takes a break from his medical studies to do a road trip around South America. Together with Alberto Grenada, they experience the gamut of human emotion: the joys, elations, and sadness of a journey amongst the downtrodden of the time.
  
  When my wife rented it, I was not excited to watch this movie, even though I like foreign films. However, I was soon captivated by the excitement of the soon-to-be revolutionary as he experienced life outside his upper-class family. Walter Salles did an exceptional job of portraying the feelings evident in the book, which I bought and read as a result of this movie. Moreso, I revisited what I thought I knew of history by reading more on who this 'Che' Guevara actually was and why I he was portrayed as such an evil man.
  
  Because of this movie, I learned quite a bit about that period of history and, more specifically, about a man the CIA thought important enough to kill in Bolivia. For that alone, I would thank Salles, as I consider education and information one of the most important things in life.
  
  I highly recommend this movie for not only an exciting film that will draw you in, but for a look at the making of a revolutionary who so affected the world in which we live today....more info
• che guevara
  esta pelicula era muy bueno porque los actores han hecho un bueno trabajo. la pelicula mostrado muchas paises be latina america. tambien, la pelicula mostrado muchos partes de la vida de ernesto guevara. el che guevara el mundo conoce es muy diferente de el che guevara este pelicula. si quieres aprender mas sobre la vida de che guevara, ves este pelicula....more info
• Awesome Movie, not so great DVD edition.
  The movie is great, lots of reviews about it. But this edition has subtitles embedded on the movie that you CAN'T TURN OFF. Beware of that before buying it ;)...more info
• Motorcycle Diaries
  Well done and interesting film offering accurate background on the subject: Che. A favorite of my students....more info
• Becareful --- Communist Propoganda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
  Dumb me!!!
  
  I should read more reviews before I purchsing the movie.
  
  I though this is a movie about touring the beautiful South America with motorcycles. I did not even know who they portry in the movie. Then I found out when I was watching half way of the movie,I suddenly felt I saw this movie before! Ha, It is a communist propoganda! Somebody must learnt from either USSR or Chinese communist propogada machines to fool inocent people to believe those mass murderers are poor people's heros. I lived in Communist country for many years and this is exactly how they portry the dictators as heros who care about poor people. There are plenty of such movies in USSR and China to portry the dictators sush as Stalin and Mao in the exact format. Do not fooled by the movie.
  
  I gave it a one star because I can not gave it zero or negative.
  
  The beautiful scenes of the beautiful South America and the mass murderers can't be mixed together.
  ...more info
• Best movie ever!
  Motorcycle diaries for me is one of the greatest movies i have seen personally. I was really moved by the south american scenery and also moved by certain themes like injustice and the segragation of the health workers from the lepers in the leper colony. This movie touched on ideas of politics, friendship, money, sacrafices, love. I could feel the emotions of the che and granado like if i was connected with them. I never really cry when i watch movies but, I cried at the end because both men like true friends have to part ways, and sometimes parting ways is part of life, Che and Granado had seperate paths that went pararell from the begining. This movie is not worth a rental, its really worth owning. It's just sad that much bone headed bush loving Americans, espically those that arent pro Isreal dont give Che Guevara recgonition besides his face on a tshirt. Che is worth more then a tshirt even though che was an poltical enemy of America. Just buy this movie and you will be moved!...more info
• The Motorcycle Diatribes
  Not hard to figure out why this film has been embraced by the knee-jerk, politically correct, art-house set. Like JFK and Duane Allman, Che Guevara died at the ideal time to put a halo around his reputation. Revolution was in the air, it was 1967, and young Americans were casting about for new role models because their old ones were - in a word - hideous. Magically the face of Che became ubiquitous, he was - in an intellectually lazy way - symbolic of brave revolution in the face of tyranny. That the truth of his legacy is almost the antithesis of those ideals was not important then, he was a T-shirt!
  
  The filmmakers cleverly tapped this ludicrous and sentimental vein, much the way the makers of Ray did, but the extra juice of self-righteous liberal elitism makes the mixture that much more intoxicating. Add to that the outrageous good looks of the lead, Gael Garcia Bernal, and you have a budding thug and executioner you'd gladly introduce to mom and dad. The film's most interesting and charismatic character dies halfway through the film - I'm referring of course to the 1939 Norton motorcycle after which the movie is named.
  
  The star of the film, and its much-needed redeeming factor, is the countryside of South America. Viewers will be happiest when the land is simply allowed to do the talking, and the protagonists watch along with them. In those moments when we are invited to imagine what an 8,000-mile journey through such a land must have felt like, we connect. We do not connect through the dialogue. For a couple of revolutionaries-in-training, these guys rarely - if ever - say anything that informs character, much less indicates change. One can certainly understand how witnessing injustice could shape a vague desire to improve the world through direct action, but such a transformation is difficult to express on film - and you won't see it here.
  
  A movie deconstructing the hippie-era mythology about Che and revealing him for the closed-minded brute he was would have been much more interesting - although not as pretty....more info
• Masterful Manipulation
  Motorcycle Diaries offers more insight as a lens into the mindset of the Pan-American political left than it does into the formative years of a violent Marxist revolutionary. The film has a high level of production quality. Good, sympathetic acting is shown against a compelling cinemascape of a vast, untamed land. Che Guevara is shown as well motivated and inspired by his love for the people of the land and hatred of injustice. Good intentions apparently explain and excuse all, else how can you explain the deification of a violent executioner? The film excuses and does not explain Che's own injustices. There is a certain arrogance in the willingness to impose one's own political views by deadly force that is never revealed or addressed. At one level, I enjoyed the story being told by the movie, but I could never reconcile the movie I saw with the history I knew. Motorcycle Diaries fails in its ambition to explain (justify?) Che Guevara. But it succeeds in extending the pro-revolutionary brand represented by the ubiquitous Che t-shirts. Is this just celebrating rejection of the status quo? Is any change better than the current inequities? This fiction ultimately left me unsatisfied....more info
• Average road pic
  Supposedly based on Che Guevara's early life, this travelogue-cum-bio pic earned rave reviews, though they were a bit over-wrought. The junky motorcycle keeps breaking down, and the young adventurers engage in various complications as they travel South America long before the young revolutionary decides to change the world. Quite earnest in a naive sort of way....more info
• Powerful
  What is your inspiration? What sparks you?
  
  This movie is just a begining of a man... And, I believe it is a touching movie of destiny.
  
  Simply, what unfolds in front of you and how you react to those situations to make you who you are is seen in this movie.
  
  I would recommened it to everyone...more info
• must see
  This movie is well done. If you want to know about ernesto before he was called the "Che" and how his views began to change watch this movie!...more info
• beautiful movie
  I thought this was an extrordinarily beautiful movie. The cinematography, music, acting, and pace are all superb. I'll leave out the Guevara/Castro rant, since this is not the appropriate forum, and it's not relevant to a review of this movie. Recommended....more info
• Boring
  Easy Rider without the sex and drugs and rock n' roll! In Spanish to boot!...more info
• The Motorcycle Diaries
  ased on Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara's memoirs about his eye-opening trip and political awakening, Salles's lushly photographed "Diaries" is an impressively acted and superbly directed coming-of-age story. As the journey begins in Buenos Aires, we meet two bon vivants from prosperous families who wish to see the world before embarking on a career. Ultimately, they encounter South America's impoverished Indian communities, and spend an entire year ministering to the ailing denizens of a leper colony. Anchored by Bernal and De La Serna's hearty performances, "Diaries" is a rousing portrait of political integrity and humanitarian commitment....more info
• Very Satisfied
  The product came very quickly and in good condition all except for the DVD packaging was ripped. I was happy with this company and I would use them again....more info
• Simply Brilliant
  Perhaps, it might be a tall order to say that Motorcycle Diaries is akin to Buddha's searching for answers of why there is much suffering in this world. During his journey with his buddy in the American continent, he saw much oppression and injustice. One reviewer commented that this movie doesn't answer why Che decided to use violence when he could have used the non-violence approach as undertaken by Ghandi. In fact, in a poignant scene as both buddies were at Macchu Picchu site, Che commented that a revolution without firepower wouldn't work. He saw what the Spanish had done to the continent and perhaps, that conditioned him to take arms eventually. I guess that a book is subject to open interpretations and the Director is intelligent enough not to hype up the myth that's Che and simply portrays Che as a man in this coming of age movie. A profound and heart moving movie that shall be seen on the big screen....more info
• A good movie, very very biased
  I think I would have given this movie four stars, if I had not known who the main character would end up being and fighting for. Acting is good, photography is splendid. The gradual transformation of Che is well constructed. The characters' stay in the clinic for lepers is convincing (with the exception of the sequence with Che swimming to the other side) and touching.
  
  The "politics" is dealt with badly. The anti-capitalist dialogues are silly and very superficial, and I do not write this because I think they are baseless (I am sure they are not). The last sentence we read on the screen is the culmination of this distorted view of Che. I realize that this is the story of Che before he became Che, and so it could be judged without reference to what came in this story's future, but then the director should have taken care of sparing us the hagiographical conclusion about "poor" Che being murdered with the cooperation of the CIA. This is what really debased the whole movie to me.
  
  I do have sympathy for someone who abandons a quiet and pampered life to fight for worthy ideals, but we should not forget that these ideas are what created Fidel Castro's Cuba (or North Korea, or Cambodia). Let us not fool ourselves with the illusion that "we" (the West, the US, whatever) are good and well-intentioned and democratic and what have you, but let us also not forget what was on the other side of the cold war.
  
  I saw this movie shortly after seeing "The lives of others" (about the "good" life in the ex-communist Germany) and this latter movie is just so much better....more info
• Necessary to Understand the 'Che'
  It does not matter whether you are a communist, a political conservative, or apathetic to politics at all, The Motorcycle Diaries exposes an important part in the life of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara that is usually overshadowed by the activities ocurring during his later years. The film does a great job capturing his thoughts and the events that shaped his beliefs and that impulsed his strugle to bring power to the people and establish an egalitarian society. ...more info
• From Kindly Medical Student to Ruthless Murderer
  The well meaning Robert Redford is a historical illiterate. It is also fair to describe the famous screen artist as a stereotypical useful idiot. His production of The Motorcycle Diaries is a leftist whitewash of a very evil man, Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The enslavement of Cuba is greatly due to his efforts. In the final years of this monster's relatively short life, Fidel Castro's close friend and comrade murdered people without hesitation. Sometimes for next to nothing. When in doubt, Guevara felt it was better to put a bullet into the head of a perceived enemy of the revolution. Was he always such a despicable creature? The short answer: no. According to this film, Che was once an idealist who valued truth and interacted with other human beings in a very generous manner. There seems to be little evidence to suggest in 1952 that he would ever turn into a blood thirsty Marxist ideologue. On the contrary, one might have more readily predicted Che would invent a cure for leprosy.
  
  We observe Ernesto Guevara traveling through South America with his buddy Alberto Granado. They have more time than money. This is suppose to be their voyage of discovery before returning to the serious duties of earning a good income and fulfilling their career ambitions. There are hints of their left-wing political leanings, but for the most part they seem like wild and crazy guys seeking adventure and a good time. The Motorcycle Diaries fails to deliver. I want to know what happened to Che immediately after his trip. Who did he meet that pushed him over the edge? What finally enticed Guevara to become a political extremist? These questions are left unanswered.
  
  David Thomson
  Flares into Darkness...more info
• TRUE MAN
  I withdrew some time ago my critics on Guevara's life to make some research.
  Since then, I have seen many documentaries and I have read many documents about this man, all contradictory.
  In fact his whole life was controversial and we need to read a lot and between lines to find the truth about his revolutionary legacy.
  But it seems so na?ve to believe that the Cuban Government would let the cameraman to film the wall were the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami claim that so many were shot dead by the firing squads in 1959 under Guevara's orders.
  It is simply unimaginable.
  Again, his words before being caught in the Bolivian forest, he is remembered to say "Don't shoot, I am worth more alive than dead", put simply, this cannot be true from a man that have put his neck on the stake for an idea. Remember that he went to the Bolivian forest regardless of all the dangers and against all the odds.
  I am argentine, thus I believe I can understand the mentality of this revolutionary. He was a true revolutionary. He was almost a SAINT and he deserves more respect from his enemies, these individuals that just engage their time in conspiring against the few TRUE democracies that still survive at the south of the Bravo River.
  If you want to learn something about a MAN I think this is the movie for you....more info
• Good Movie
  It is a great Movie, to people who enjoy real life stories and deep thoughs.
  Also very funny...more info
• A love letter to a pre-Che
  I've read both books that this DVD is based on, and the way they are put together makes an interesting film. If you haven't yet discovered the talents of Garcia Gael Bernal, you certainly will want to see more of his films after this. Beautifully photographed, will make you want to take a tour of Latin America yourself. Perfect casting all around. Truly gives you a better understanding of Ernesto "Che" Guevaro's motivation for who he was to become. The Widescreen edition is a must to appreciate the magnificent magical feeling that makes you want to get on the back of the motocycle with them. ...more info
• Bad
  Imagine a film purporting to depict the youth of Adolf Hitler that never dealt with an instance of his Anti-Semitism and you will about have what The Motorcycle Diaries represents for Latin American Communism. The film, based upon the book of the same name, culled from the diaries of Ernesto `Che' Guevara (Gael Garc¨ªa Bernal), the mass murdering top henchman of Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution, attempts to portray the monster as an all-caring near-Christ-like figure. Now, I am not one who's a PC stickler when it comes to art and truth, but the fact is this film is a) bad history, and b) even worse art. While not quite as bad a film as Monster, for its better visuals than that feminist ode to girl power via serial murder, the earlier film at least acknowledged that its subject was a mass murderer, even as it excused it. By contrast, The Motorcycle Diaries not only glosses over Che's massive crimes against humanity, but gives absolutely no hint that such evil ever resided in the man. He was Latin America's Osama bin Laden before there was an Osama bin Laden. Yet, to the recrudescent Hollywood PC Elitists he is a hero, simply because he opposed America. That, alone, to them, erases all of the blood on his hands, even though he was enamored of the Soviet Union's genocidal methods. Yet, George W. Bush, a man I certainly do not admire, is utterly reviled for his crimes against humanity, even though his `cause' is arguably only just as ignoble and ineffective as Che's ultimately was.
  The film, which was lauded at the Sundance Film Festival, and widely touted by executive producer and political na?f, Robert Redford, follows spoiled rich kid Che's months-long trek, at age 23, across South America with an older pal named Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna), 29. The film, while filled with beautiful vistas of the countryside, is not particularly well shot by director Walter Salles nor cinematographer Eric Gautier, as there is none of the lingering sumptuousness that one finds in Lawrence Of Arabia, nor Kundun, films made by filmic masters like David Lean and Martin Scorsese. Instead, we get filmic postcards, not engaging realities. The framing of the shots sometimes seems as if it were done by a tourist who was in a hurry to get through whatever area he was traveling through. It also plumbs virtually every clich¨¦ of the two genres it inhabits- the buddy film and the coming of age road film. On the buddy side you have handsome, serious, empathetic Che, who-like George Washington, cannot tell a lie- he rips a doctor's poorly worded novel after his pal praises I- telling the old man to stick to medicine (would that someone had told Che the same thing!), and the chubby, fast-talking sidekick, Alberto, on a continual poon hunt. They get in to wacky adventures, constantly crash their motorcycle, and escape disaster by the skins of their teeth. On the road picture side, Che falls in love with a beautiful girl, but breaks her heart, the two meet strange people and grow up, chase girls, and idyllic vistas inspire the duo to talk like a bad screenwriter's imagination of what depth is, especially when at Maachu Picchu. If this insipidity is what Screenwriter's 101 feels reconstructed conversations should be, well....yeesh. In short, this is one foreign film whose subtitles do not matter vis-¨¤-vis dubbing because they are bad either way.... Despite being made by a Brazilian filmmaker, this film is thoroughly Hollywood, and bound to polarize. Simpleminded Leftists have and will praise it to the hilt, despite its manifest flaws, all because they will not bother to check out the facts. Rightists will damn the film, sight unseen, thereby missing the chance to rip its poor artistry and only justify the many delusions of their enemies, by showing them they are correct that Rightists cannot separate art from reality, either. And so it goes....but, at least, I recognize such things. If the film did so I would not have to state it.
  ...more info
• ON THE ROAD WITH 'CHE'
  I have reviewed a biography of the life and works of the Latin American communist revolutionary (I think that is how he wanted to see himself rather than simply as an Argentine) Ernesto "Che' Guevara elsewhere in this space and make no bones about my admiration for his revolutionary skill and ardor while also noting my political differences. In a world that in the year 2007 is filled to the brim with fake `heroes' that today's youth are pushed to emulate Che was the real thing. A man of revolutionary conviction. The film under review, however, is a little difference take on Che's life from a time before he became a world-known revolutionary fighter and icon. Apparently this film is based on his diaries written while he and another footloose companion were traveling the highways and byways of Latin America on motorcycle, foot, boat, cart or by any other mode of transportation that would move them forward. During that fateful trip middle class professional (doctor) Che has his eyes opened to the geographic beauty of his continent but also to the grim underside of life for the masses. We, unfortunately, are painfully aware of how those travels ultimately end in the hills of Bolivia pursued by literally all of the security forces in the Western world.
  
  Does this early life study of Che work? As a member of the Generation of '68 I am very, very familiar with the wanderlust that drove many of my generation, myself included, to seek salvation and companionship of kindred spirits on the roads of America and elsewhere. We rode those old Volkwagen buses to the ground in that pursuit and when they failed we hitchhiked (nobody does that anymore and, unfortunately, nobody should with all the weirdness out there on the mean roads of America these days). Che got the urge to find 'himself' before Kerouac's Beat Generation classic On the Road and we got it as a result of that work so this struggle against personal alienation has been going on for a while now. However, that physical liberation from parental authority and the norms of bourgesois existence do not in themselves necesaarily produce anything except an existential traveler. If one did not know before hand that this film was about Che then, while it was interesting, cinematically beautiful and the interplay between the two travelers was well-acted it could have been about a fair percentage of the children of post-World War II generation.
  
  The missing link is the politics. In a word the search for revolutionary politics. And that is the real problem with the unfolding of the story here. Based on this presentation it is hard to pinpoint what in Che's experiences acted as a catalyst for `enlightening' him beyond some liberal sentimentality about the miseries of existence seen on his travels that would lead to a revolutionary understanding of the need to overthrow the old regimes. Yes, I know that to recruit people to revolution these days we will be dealing with bright, articulate, thoughtful, concerned liberals like Che in this film's period but I believe that the makers of this film took a dive on the politics. If they had wanted to honor the memory of Che then they did a disservice to that memory by reducing him to a inoffensive character serviceable to the liberal milieu. If they merely , as I assume, wanted to ride the wave of popularity for a real icon for international youth then I have even greater political differences with their use of Che's legacy....more info
• A quiet and above all...."nice" film
  I got a confession to make: like a previous reviewer said about his friend, I too didn't connect the main character of the film with the controversial communist revolutionary Che Guevara. While his last name is mentioned a couple times and Che, not once did it occur to me that it meaning him. In reflecting on the film, it had a different resonance. Instead of being a road trip movie about things that change your life, it ended up becoming a look into a life who had enough with things and wanted change. Sure we can disagree with the methods but it's quite a look into a famous leader's backstory.
  
  2 friends living in Argentina, Alberto and Ernesto, decide to do what they had been planning for awhile: a big motorcycle trip around South America and ending in a leper colony for volunteer work. Several minor mishaps happen such as a storm or constant motorcycle problems but they gradually get introduced to the problems facing many people which starts to affect Ernesto in a big way.
  
  First off, the film is anchored with 2 great performances, especially by Gael Garcia Bernal as Ernesto who manages to say a lot just simply by his expression or his gestures. Second, the cinematography is great with picturesque shots of the countryside including an ancient Mayan civilization. The film never gets preachy, showing that after-school special "we are the world" stuff a lot of these films have. One minor complaint is that the film just feels long at times. And poor Mia Maestro, the only worthwhile character in Poseidon and they write her off and she doesn't last long on Alias. Here, she's in a few scenes at the beginning than she disappears for the entire film. Not to mention the end credits don't mention what became of her.
  
  Now for the Che Guevera aspect: watching him do very daring things in the film, particularly involving the leper colony he volunteered at makes you appreciate the social awareness he was starting to now see, as well as trying to promote. Some would describe the man as a hero, others see him as merely a revolutionary who wanted change by any means necessary which of course brings up the ends vs means question. Like many popular figures, he ended up becoming one of the more well-known and influential people even if certain things were questionable.
  
  It's certainly a watchable film although I probably wouldn't watch it twice. It's a great character study where your eyes get opened to everything beyond your comfort zone and I think we can all relate....more info
• Powerful propaganda, passible film, lousy interpretation of the book
  "The Motorcycle Diaries" averaged three stars, including three on its merits as film. Lets look at the other factors first.
  
  As propaganda; as a mass media product intended to shape attitudes and influence people, five stars. The imagery is powerful and emotionally persuasive, the story makes the point clear, and the subject of this fictionalized account of "Che" Guevara's journey across South America will do much to keep a communist/socialist/popular revolutionary in the same mindset as his or her comrades. Even a fairly hardened Capitalist will hesitate at the depiction of the plight of miners in South America. Powerful appeals to emotion, plus the iconic value of "Che" make this an extremely competent bit of psychological campaigning whether or not you buy it or the agenda it pushes.
  
  As an interpretation of a book: a dismal failure; one star. Che's book was funny, light-hearted, and depicted a very human man barely out of adolescence, trying to find himself, liquor, and physical intimacy (maybe not in that order...). He was able to laugh at himself. This movie misses that altogether. Ernesto may be depicted as human, a subject of sympathy, or even youthfully foolish at times, but never as the one to laugh at, and never really laughing at himself. The changes in events and parts of the book that were ignored make this evident; that the filmakers took themselves and their cause more seriously than anyone outside their cause can.
  
  As film; Three stars; it was OK, but only OK. The story depended too much on Che being Che as opposed to any other young physician traveling through South America, where the book had other merits. It was also to preachy abouth the political message; a less direct approach could have won it a broader audience. The scenery of Latin America is the real star of the film, varied but always magnificent and captured well by the filmmakers. The real star in my mind is the lady who played Silvia, a young woman with leprosy, with a lovely face despite her ailment. She played the role with heart, and was brilliant as she regained hope and a desire to live, despite her daily suffering.
  
  As it relates to current events: Although Che had little in common with a modern irhabi and munafiquun (false Muslims who commit murder that defiles Islam), Che was a physician who took up arms for a cause. This movie depicts a heavily fictionalized account of what shaped this change. Given the number of physicians involved with modern terrorism, this film should drive much thought and discussion.
  
  Over all: Eh. Beautiful scenery, a tolerable plot, too much propaganda. No matter how timely, relevant, and thought provoking, I'm glad I rented it, but I'm more glad I didn't buy it. If you have an interest in terrorism or low intensity conflict, it is worth watching once (not twice), otherwise, I would suggest you give it a pass....more info
• Inspiring Movie
  The Motorcycle Diaries in my opinion is probally one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It is very inspiring and shows how Ernesto Guevara becomes Che Guevara. I think everyone should read the actual book and see the movie. Seeing and hearing about the injustice in the world will open your eyes and make you want to do something about it. I was a sociology major to begin with but Che has inspired me to persue Social Theory more and want to be a human rights activist. He was right and is still right. There is so much injustice in this world....more info
• Oveglorified Psychopath
  Let's see . . . what did Che Guevara do with his life? Oh, yeah, that's right, he killed people. That's all. He just killed a lot of people. That . . . is . . . all.
  
  But . . . because he killed a lot of people in the name of Communism AND he hated America all the liberals/leftists have overglorified and overrated him.
  
  Just like they once did with Josef Stalin....more info
• Deep Side
  This film shows the human side of Ernesto "Che" Guevara before all his revolution road. If you wanna know more about him, see this film....more info
• Fantastic movie, but after some research behind it, only then can your eyes be truly opened.
  I write this as a 20-year-old American college student who watched this movie in her Spanish class without even knowing who Ernesto "Che" Guevara was. The movie itself was really quite good. I felt very sympathetic towards Ernesto and Alberto; the way they started out just having a good time and being moved so much by the indigenous people they met along the way. I felt very connected to them. Really, it's a touching movie and makes you feel very empathetic towards the world, in general.
  
  After finding out about him becoming involved with Fidel Castro though, a little "ding ding ding" went off in my head. I decided to research more into this guy and what I found was quite surprising, to say the least. And I still cannot figure out why this man is so revered and is on t-shirts everywhere.
  
  I felt very sad to find out that the man in this film, who was so likable and gentle, could go on to murder massive amounts of people, speak with words with such hatred, and all in the name of the poor people, who he apparently also killed. Yeah, these are facts, whether you like them or not. And the only answer to my question is that this movie just doesn't portray him... as it should have. Or maybe even as he really was. Yes, anyone can feel empathy for the poor and there's nothing wrong with being an idealist. But knowing all of this AFTER I have seen the movie kind of takes the magic away.
  
  I'm still not quite sure what I think about Che Guevara. And yes, I know that this movie is not about the revolutionary but about his early life. Even so, that doesn't mean you can't exclude this man's entire life on those claims. Adolf Hitler wanted to be a preacher and we all know how he turned out. I'm not comparing this guy to Hitler, but if anyone is a prime example of "good boy gone bad", it would be the Fuhrer himself. Also, if one is going to make a movie out of a VERY important figure's life, it had better present the cold hard facts. We can "d'awww" all day at baby pictures of little Adolf, but that doesn't change what he became; THE most infamous name in all of history.
  
  Fighting for what you believe in is a good message. It'd be even better if one didn't kill the people whom one was fighting for. And that's probably the main reason I just can't see Che as a hero or anyone to put on a t-shirt. The Cuban Revolution was apparently a great thing. So... why is everybody still suffering and in pain? Nothing is better than it was before. People are still impoverished and sick and dying. Why is this guy the hero while Fidel Castro is among the hated leaders of the world? Because he was killed before he could do any real damage, and compared to the atrocities he committed while he was alive, that's saying something....more info
• Wandering and Wonder over Worrying and War
  Wandering and Wonder over Worrying and War
  
  When it came time to review this movie, I could not do it. That is, I could not do it without also reviewing it within the context of two other movies that I had just recently watched because all three of them have such a similar theme. In fact, they all have so many things in common that I decided to review all three of them at the same time as a medley, something I have never done before but which seems called for. If you'll follow me, you'll see what I'm getting at.
  
  I was recently talking to a friend of mine at work when we happened to run into each other in the men's room. He asked me if I had ever seen the film EASY RIDER, and I answered that it was interesting and very synchronistic that he should ask me that because it was the last movie that I had just enjoyed watching at home on DVD. I said, "Man, you know, I was JUST watching that last week! I LOVE that movie. I wanted to get the deluxe edition but I could not find it anywhere, so I just picked up the regular one at GIANT (the local supermarket) in the bargain bin for nine bucks." My friend, Ian, then said, "I only own three movies in my collection: EASY RIDER, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, and INTO THE WILD. Have you seen the other two?" I answered that I had not and that I had always wanted to see the both of them, to which he quickly replied, "You can borrow mine, man. I'll bring them in tomorrow for you." "Hey, thanks a lot, man," I replied with gratitude, and we both went back to work.
  
  I watched both of those movies Ian let me borrow over the weekend of April 10, 11, 12, 2009 right on the heels of having watched EASY RIDER just weeks before. The amazing amount of similar themes running through all three of these films is impressive. All three of these movies express a preference for wandering and wonder over worrying and war for the characters involved. Each of them seems to express the plight of characters dealing with their own, personal rejection of the reality of petty worries and war (The Iliad), and choosing, instead, a life of venturing forth into the unknown world of wonder and wandering (The Odyssey). The characters in all three of these movies depict a great love of adventure and a great joy of being out on the open road. Jack Kerouac, author of ON THE ROAD, would have loved all three of these fantastic films, especially INTO THE WILD, as he was a great lover of the books of Jack London. Also, they all have a great, cinematic and panoramic, wide-angle viewpoint of the world. Watching these films gets one out of one's own head and puts one right into the world of the film. The scenery in all three films is stunning and absolutely breathtaking. The viewer is immediately projected "into the wild" world (if you will) of the characters. It's intense! You get taken along for a ride that goes not only far and wide out into the world but, also, deep into the hidden spaces of one's heart and mind. All three of these films will make you think about your own life in particular as well as the greater meaning of life in general. They are deep, psychological films that demand conscious labor of intellectual thought and emotional soul searching on the part of the viewer. You get taken for a ride, but it is definitely NOT "easy!"
  
  In my case, watching these films - especially INTO THE WILD - brought me back to a time when I myself, like the character in the movie, was 22 years old and questioning my place in life: what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, where I wanted to live, how I wanted to live, and who I wanted to be with. I realize now that I was seeking a sense of place to fit in and a community to be a part of that I felt comfortable in more than merely trying to "find myself." But understanding that when you are going through it is another thing altogether. Watching INTO THE WILD hits home on all these points and more! I remember having just seen The Grateful Dead in concert in Hartford, Connecticut with my good buddy, Jimmy, in May of 1997, and feeling like I wanted to just bust loose of all of the constraints of society that seemed to be holding me back from my true calling - whatever that was. I was feeling like a wild animal caught in a trap, and I wanted to be free. I had dropped out of college almost two years before, and I had been working at two jobs back in my hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. That summer, like the kid in INTO THE WILD, I planned to get away and I bought a bunch of camping equipment, quit my jobs, and hit the road. I first went up north to New York State to camp out with some members of the Neo-American Church in the region of Cranberry Lake. When I decided not to stay and started to trek back out to head off somewhere else, my glasses fell off of my head and into the muddy, swampy muck I had found myself in along the water's edge. It took me an hour to find them. I realized then and there that I was handicapped for this kind of wandering around with all this heavy weight on my shoulders. So, I hitchhiked back home, feeling just as lost and just as confused as ever. I continued to read hundreds of books to find an answer to my quest for authenticity and community, only to learn that I was just making the book stores richer. I tried yet again to break away that fall, and went back to western Massachusetts to see if I could find work out near my friends who were still going to school there. I could relate to the scene in INTO THE WILD where Christopher writes in his diary of all freedom seekers in the history of this country seeking it by going out "west." Whenever I would hear the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin, when Robert Plants sings: "There's a feeling I get when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for leaving," I would feel an urge inside me to head out west before I got too old to do it. Indeed, Christopher tries to inspire the old man who wanted to adopt him in the film (Hank Holbrook) to do the very same thing! After spending two weeks looking for work with no luck, and deciding not to move into a deserted cabin or tepee built out in the back woods of a local farmer's land because of the weather and being all alone, I left the generous hospitality of my good friend, Greg, and once more headed back home to find my way that way. Years later, after working an assortment of odd jobs over many years, I eventually ended up opening my own health food store in the summer of 1989 after deciding not to buy some land way up north in Maine or Vermont near the Canadian border - the only place I could afford land at the time. I concluded that if I bought the land, I would never be able to later do the health food store (one of the last business bastions left of hippiedom in corporate America), but if I opened the store and did not like it, I could always cash-in and then go off and buy some land somewhere out in the woods. I was always talking about "moving to Alaska," to live in freedom and stuff like that - so I can really relate to what Christopher McCandless (the real character and promising young man of the true story of INTO THE WILD) was going through. I felt like I was looking at myself re-living my past. He took the path I almost took. I turned back. He never got the chance to. God only knows where he would be today if he had lived to tell his story!
  
  I have a cousin who actually did the same thing once. He was even younger than me when he did it. My cousin, George, actually made it all the way to Alaska, and then Hawaii, and then Europe as well. He went all around the world. When he reached Alaska, he hooked up with some of his old friends from Dunstable, Massachusetts who had also moved up there to make money working on the pipeline and on fishing boats. He found work up there for a while, too, just like some of the characters in these three films. They worked along the way to help to make their journey. George ended up finding his friend, Jim Lavrakas, a famous photographer today for the Anchorage Daily News in Alaska. Ernesto and Alberto worked in a Leper Colony for a while in Peru. Christopher McCandless worked out in the fields cutting grain for a while to help pay his way. I have a good friend named Phil who actually did do what I had once intended on doing myself. He worked his butt off for years, saved a bunch of cash, and bought himself 25 acres of land up in Maine where he lives off the grid out in the woods as an independent, organic farmer and orchard grower. He says he did it to be able to live like a free man out on the land away from all of the social evils and urban ugliness of the city. He also wanted to be free and independent of his family, like Chris in INTO THE WILD. He did it. I guess I was too much of a homebody and a Hobbit to live alone all by myself out in the woods somewhere where no one knew me. It takes courage to live alone like Thoreau out in the wild. You need guts to do this kind of stuff. I know that one reason why I returned back home from my meager attempt at wandering through the woods was that I really missed music. I am a musician. There is no way to jam with other people and enjoy music and dance when you live alone out in the woods. It is impossible. Nevertheless, till this day, the TV series that ran in the early nineties about life up in a small town called Cicely, Alaska - NORTHERN EXPOSURE - is still my all-time, favorite television program. It had colorful characters. I guess some romantic ideas die hard.
  
  It takes a lot of courage to leave the comforts of home and cut loose from all of your support system of family and friends and to just take off and hit the road to God knows where. It's a "wild world," as Cat Stevens sings, and you've got to take care. All three films show the major characters getting into trouble out on the road. "Alexander Supertramp" (the vagabond name Christopher McCandless chose for himself after cutting up his social security card and all of his other documents of official identity before he hit the road) got the hell beaten out of him by railroad man one dark night when he was hobo-ing it out on a train. Both Ernesto and Alberto got chased out of town by a jealous husband and all of his hometown buddies after one of his friends saw the husband's wife flirting and dancing with Ernesto on the dance floor. In EASY RIDER, Peter Fonda's motorcycle gets a flat tire (the least of their troubles) just like Alberto's motorcycle kept on breaking down and eventually dying on them in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. These young characters in all of these films were not exactly experiencing the metaphysical revelations of Robert M. Pirsig in his masterful ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE - at least not at first - but they certainly all ran into a lot of trouble. The spiritual revelations began to come to them later, along the way. Indeed, all the major characters have major transformational experiences in one way or another as a result of their personal quests and traveling adventures. The road changes you. Also, there are many forks in the road, as Neil Young most recently informs us. It's hard to decide sometimes which way to go.
  
  This changing of one's name seems to be a prerequisite to being a beat, road warrior out on the highway. Not only does Christopher change his name, but in EASY RIDER, the character played by Peter Fonda changes his name from Wyatt to "Captain America," and the character played by Dennis Hopper begins to call himself "Billy the Kid," both taking on the persona of Wild West characters of historical, American lore. In THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, Ernesto begins to be called "Fuser" and "Che" (the name that stuck with him for the rest of his life!) while his buddy, Alberto, begins to be called "Mial." It's almost as if one has to shed one's former identity as a snake sheds its skin in order to take on one's true identity - and this requires the taking on of a new name, one which reflects one's true identity.
  
  Another thing these movies have in common is the pairing of a more sensitive and reflective character with a more rough & tumble and more aggressive character. In the case of INTO THE WILD, the character - who is very sensitive and contemplative - is paired up against the people he meets on his journey along the way, many of which tend to be less graceful and sensitive as he is. In THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, Ernesto is very much like the character that Peter Fonda portrays in EASY RIDER, and Alberto is, also, very much like the character that Dennis Hopper plays. The likeness is astounding. Ernesto, like Christopher McCandless in INTO THE WILD, is always writing in his journal and thinking about the deeper meaning of things. Peter Fonda, as well, is portrayed as the more thoughtful and contemplative one than the rambunctious and womanizing Dennis Hopper. One character is graceful and patient, full of compassion for other people, while the other is less refined and always in a hurry, and somewhat more selfish. They are like The Odd Couple - but riding on motorcycles!
  
  Another theme that runs deeply through all three films is the powerful and destiny changing power of rivers! The awesome power of the natural world, exemplified by a river in all three films, is undeniable. You can't miss it. In the case of INTO THE WILD, it was the raging force of the rolling river rapids that prevented Chris from crossing back in the spring to the other side from which he came. It was too wide, too deep, and with waters gushing too fast to cross. He was forced to go back to the bus where he had been living all winter. It ultimately decided his destiny for him. He almost drowned in it on his attempt to cross it. In the end, it was because of the river which separated him from all that he cared about in his past that sealed his fate. The poison plants he mistakenly ingested while he was starving did not help, either. In the case of EASY RIDER, it was along the river that both characters met their fate, and got blown away by a couple of backwoods rednecks out for a spin in their pickup truck. Maybe it was their bad karma? Still, the injustice of the moment is profound, as one watches Peter Fonda's motorcycle go up in flames while Roger McGuinn of the Byrds sings Bob Dylan's song, "The Ballad of Easy Rider,' as the lyrics "flow, river flow" repeat throughout the song like the flowing river itself. In the case of THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, it was along the river where Ernesto found himself, in the sense of his true calling, while administering to a sick, leper woman who made him realize that there are other ways to heal people - and prevent them from getting sick in the first place - than by being a physician to individuals. Society itself can be in great need of a social healer. The river separated the sick lepers on one side from the hospital care workers on the other. Ernesto refused to wear the superstitious rubber gloves on his hands from the very first day. One night, on his birthday, he had a spiritual rebirth when he took a rite of passage and dove into the river, swimming all the way across to the other side where all of the sick lepers along the shore encouraged him on. On doing so, he once and for all proved to his friend, Alberto, that he was no wimp but a true man with determination and courage. He showed an inner strength that inspired all of those around him. How they cheered his victory over the river! He would not be stopped by anything. That came later, when he was "Che Guevara" the revolutionary in Bolivia, when the sneaky CIA killed him. His nobility still shines brightly! Like "Alexander Supertramp" in INTO THE WILD and "Captain America" in EASY RIDER, he had a huge heart and a great soul. He truly cared about people.
  
  Another theme that runs through all three of these films is a sense of loneliness. The number on the bus that Christopher lived in depicted in INTO THE WILD is number 142. Numerologically, this adds up to a number 7 - the number of solitude and loneliness. In EASY RIDER, the character played by Peter Fonda ends up all alone in a New Orleans cemetery, perched atop a statue of the Virgin Mary while he's peaking on LSD in a death-rebirth acid trip-induced mystical experience, screaming out in tears to his real dead mother and asking her why she killed herself, leaving him all alone. In THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, you find Ernesto feeling more and more isolated from his friend and feeling lonely after he receives the "Dear John letter" from his girlfriend who they had visited just weeks before. His sense of loss and isolation is profound. His shattered dream of a romantic relationship with this woman cleared the path to true enlightenment for him. The viewer can sense this profoundly at the end of the film when you see him saying goodbye to Alberto before getting alone onto the aeroplane waiting to take him away toward his ultimate destiny. All three of these characters experienced major spiritual transformations along their journey out on the road of life far away from home.
  
  One last characteristic that all the major characters in these three films have in common is their persistent, uncompromising, diligently determined drive to all reach their goals - for good or ill. They are all absolutely hell-bent on following their dreams and dancing to the beat of their own drummer. They all choose freedom over security. Ironically, they all consciously choose the path of Odysseus - of wandering - but they all end up reaching the same end as Achilles - of dying young in a flame of glory. That's fate. The ancient Greeks called her "Moira." Even the Gods themselves are at her mercy. In EASY RIDER, Billy was always pushing his more contemplative partner onward toward their goal of reaching the famous whorehouse in New Orleans. It almost seems as if the only reason why "Captain America" wanted to also go was to pay his respects to their long lost companion, George (played dramatically by Jack Nicholson) the attorney who got them out of jail, whose idea it was to go there in the first place. Peter Fonda's character was loyal to a fault when it came to his friendship with Billy. In THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, Alberto (the horny rascal) was always pushing Ernesto to go out of his spiritual centeredness and jump into the dangerous fray of the more seedy side of life. Finally, in INTO THE WILD, it was "Alexander Supertramp's" intense reaction to the constant, dysfunctional fighting between his mother and father back home that pushed him on and outward to not ever end up in the same situation himself. We must also acknowledge that all of these characters were young and anxious to sew some of their wild oats, a natural condition of youth everywhere.
  
  One might ask what would have happened to all of these characters if they had changed their minds along the way of their respective, individual quests and decided, instead, to stay with companions they had met along the way, or turn back and go back home? I remember when I first saw EASY RIDER as a kid, when it first came out in 1969. We all went to the movie theater as a group and all watched it together, getting a kick out of hippies smoking real pot, live and on camera. Some of us thought they should have stayed in the hippie commune. If they had lived, would they have stayed together? Would "Captain America" have gone back to be with those people? The same goes for INTO THE WILD. What would have happened if Christopher had stayed longer with his hippie friends in the trailer park? What would have happened if he left Alaska before the ice melted and went back to be with the girl he sang with who was a musician and who clearly cared for him? In THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES, what would have happened if Ernesto changed his mind and went back to be with his girlfriend? Would there have ever been a Cuban revolution? It's interesting that the characters in EASY RIDER had the goal of reaching a whorehouse, and the character in THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES - "Che Guevara" - was instrumental in ridding CUBA of all of its underworld-controlled and corrupt, exploitative whorehouses and gambling casinos! Who woulda thunk that - coming from this bookish, sensitive doctor!
  
  Ultimately, what one comes away learning from all three of these films, and which is expressed at the end of INTO THE WILD by Christopher McCandless, is that what really matters most in life is true happiness and peace of mind, and that the only way to be truly fulfilled and happy is by sharing it with other people. Happiness can only be found in community. To reach a real community where you can truly be yourself and live an authentic life is a real blessing. Billy and "Captain America" never got the chance. Christopher McCandless learned this truth - but too late to live it. Only Ernesto reached the higher octave of societal existence and sustained a life on a higher level of community involvement through his unbending will and indomitable spirit to "work for the good of the whole," as my friend, Al, likes to say. He was true to himself; that is, he took what he learned from being alone on the road away from home and brought it back with him to transform society back home and, ultimately, everywhere. He may have fallen off that damn, rickety, old motorcycle one too many times to be content with the trust in machinery and mechanical living to the extent that most people allow themselves to fall prey to. He found true freedom from the fold by transforming the fold itself, and it was life on the road that transformed him.
  
  Thoreau said it best: "In wilderness is the preservation of the world." Wandering through the wilderness is dynamically healing!
  
  ... YOWZA! - George Nicholas Koumantzelis / The Aeolian Kid ... April 15, 2009
  ...more info
• Epic Motorcycle Diaries
  Sadly disappointed in this epic adventure movie. Having read several accounts of the trip and part of the book, I looked forward to an outstanding motorcycle/life adventure. Instead, every other word was vulgar and totally uncalled for in the story. This is a worthless piece of trash. I had hoped to share it with friends and family as we have done the Long Way Round and other movies, but that will never happen....more info
• Motorcycle Diaries
  This movie did a good job at portraying Ernesto Guevara's road trip through South America. It depicts two bright minds who like many their age want to see some of the world. The film did a good job at showing the situations that helped change Che while not focusing too much on the negative. Redford did a good job....more info
• Interssting entertaining theartrical version of Che Guevara
  I enjoyed motorcycle Diaries on a theatrical Level, but knew that all it said about this little Puffed up phony "El Che" was fabrication.The people that stood up and applauded this nonsense at Sundance for the makers being bold enough to finally let the masses know about the real " Che " are naive.Now for all you Dummies out there, try picking up some books on history and reading about your new found Hero.I am as appalled with the people who viewed this film and now think they really know about Che Guevara as the ones who watched JFK and now could not wait for someone to open there mouths about the Jfk assignation who spoke in favor of non conspiracy. You wont have to look far to gain some insight on the real Che guevara further then his own writings. See what Guevara's feelings on Human life are and execution without trial and many, many other fun fact's omitted in this film. If your were only truly naive before, you will now be shocked and appalled at how wrong your feeling were. If you truly are stupid it wont matter what you read or learn, because nothing will change your romantic minded ideals of your savoir Che Guevara. If you take away a newfound respect for Che Guevara you are once agin naive individual who allows movie directors to educate them on history and that is always a mistake in all but a few cases.If you really want to be offended, watch this new film about Che Guevara being released simply titled "Che" and the same rule applies, if you watch and enjoy it on a entertainment level, no harm no foul. But if you now believe this nonsense, I truly feel sorry for you.Try reading Books and even watching well balanced Documentaries from those with out political agendas ( if they can be found) and then formulate your own opinions instead of having your opinions poured into your head by some Film Director ....more info
• Great film, great book
  This was based off the book by Che, which was the diaries of his adventure through South America. Not only does it open you eyes and give you a brief rush of being a revolutionary, it makes view how not just the status of the desperately poor is today in the United States but in the rest of the world. This was before he met Fidel Castro and definitely before the Cuban Revolution which overthrew Batista. I enjoyed studying Che, however after the Cuban Revolution he became cocky by publishing manuscripts on how he revolutionized Guerrilla Warfare, which ultimately lead to his capture and death.
  
  The film is in spanish, no setting for an English audio, there are subtitles in english. Must be viewed multiple time (like many films) to understand the message....more info
• Terrible!!!
  Okay, so 99% of the DVD's that come out in English have a Spanish dialogue soundtrack. How come this doesn't have an English dialogue soundtrack. I had no idea this was in a foreign language, and returned it immediately upon this discovery!
  
  Hated it!
  
  Two limp thumbs way down!
  
  MC White said: It sucked!...more info
• A Fine Primer, to understand Che Guevara
  I must admit that, when I started college in 1967, I was a product of media prejdice. The death of Che Guevara that year meant little to me because he was "a bad guy". A later film, "Che" (1969 with Omar Sharif) was such a bomb, Che has never been given the recognition that is due. "The Motorcycle Diaries" is a well-made film by the brilliant Walter Salles, and stars the excellent Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna as Che and his good friend, Alberto Granado, as they set out to discover the South American countryside, from Argentina, to Chile & Peru, ending in Colombia; the film ends there. This is a buddy movie, with humor, adventure and purpose. Che's discovery of man's inhumanity to man started with this trip, and the rest is history. Breath-taking cinematography by Eric Gautier, and an unobtrusive but effective score by Gustavo Santaolalla add to the enjoyment. The two leads have wonderful chemistry, and it all comes together for an exciting ride, with an award-winning script by Jose Rivera. The DVD extras are insightful, especially noting that Che's daughter, Aleila, and Alberto Granado himself both give their absolute blessing to the proceedings. Whatever your opinion of Che Guevara, I recommend you see this film to gain a great perspective of the man and his ensuing motivations. ...more info
• Beautiful heartfelt road movie.
  This movie was a moving heartfelt adventure road movie. Two men set out to traverse the continent of South America the long way, that is north and south, on a used motorcycle. The scenes are beautiful and the people that they meet even more so. This movie is not political and does not want you to take any view on the labor party or any other party. It is just a buddy story about two guys challenging their self emotionally, physically, but most of all spiritually. You want to weep at the ending because their adventure is over...more info
• A Superb Film that romanticizes a would-be mass murderer!
  Oh man,do I hate reviews like this!
  
  THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is one tremendously engaging film about the early life and travels of who was eventually to become "Che" Guevara, notorious revolutionary and mass murderer.Guevara and and his best bud Alberto Granado set out on an old motorcycle to travel the South American continent.The story is funny,exhilarating and rather sentimental to the point of winning one over to love and embrace the youth that Guevara was, and to not acknowledge the monster that he became.You will be lulled with gorgeous cinematography of Argentina,Peru,Chile,Colombia and Venezuela; you will meet the oppressed and disenfranchised of the Latin Americas;you will see events that formed a young man's ideals.....or will you? This film is excellent....but I caution you to not accept the information presented here as gospel.If you don't watch out, you will think that Guevara ends up a true champion of the people who loved lepers as much as he loved the freedom of all people.NOT SO! If anything this movie leaves you with, it will be the single thought,"What went wrong?" that this simplistic youth could end up like Hitler or Manson.5 stars for an engrossing film,but only with the understanding that what you see is romanticized fiction at best....more info
• Beautifully Done
  This is a powerful story and I think helped me understand more about Che Guevara. When you see his deep passion for the people and dedication to "the least of these," you can see more how he became a revolutionary. Even though he ended up caught up in violence, you can see how his heart began in the right place.
  
  Beautiful cinematography, and Gael Garcia Bernal does a wonderful job as Che, with just the right mix of intensity and innocence....more info
• Great Movie
  My main draw of seeing this movie was to see the beautiful South America since I knew nothing about Che Guverara. If you are going to watch for that very reason then I assure you this is an awesome movie. However it does have a story of his transition from a compassionate doctor to a communist. It like a documentary film (mind you its diaries) with wonderful anecdotes. If you have ever been on a road trip just to enjoy nature you will readily connect with this film. If you haven't then here is your chance to experience that....more info
• ONLY FOR CLUB-MED LEFTIES; OTHERS AVOID!
  An idyllic and compassionate Argentine rich kid decides to throw it all away and redeem himself by redeeming the poor. Only he turns out to be Che Guevara!
  Guevara's appeal as a young non-conformist with a heart of gold and a mind of steel -an "armed Christ", as Sartre called him- bears little resemblance with the actual long haired dictator that was: a Stalinist fanatic who once wrote about the joys of executing people, and his personal urgent need to do so. Why these psychos get such pop-star idol recognition among First World well intentioned rich liberals escapes me. Maybe it's because they want to appear cool, defiant and politically correct. Maybe because they also feel guilty about having plenty in a world of scarcity. But mostly because they know nothing, and want to know even less, about the countries they pretend to help by supporting their local crackpots. Either that, or they're just plain morons!
  Someday soon, I'd like to see Mexican heartthrob Garc¨ªa Bernal -with his handsome "Howard the Duck" looks- impersonate a young Lavrenti Beria on his road to epiphany, and show me how nice a fellow that chap really was. I would love to see that movie get raving reviews and international awards, and I'd also like to see your kids wearing that lovable commissar's face on their T-shirts. And -goes without saying- see how you like that, for a change!...more info