The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The real gem of this movie is it's last scene. The Motorcycle Diaries is one of greatest and enriching movie with lot of great experiences. I've watched this movie lot of times. Above all It has the best ending scene. This movie change my perspective about America as a whole. Whenever we think about America, USA or Sometimes Canada comes into our minds because it's too mainstream. But America is more than that, This movie is about Latin America, about Che Guevara, About Friendship, About Hardships of Life. A must watch!!

First, had to set aside my prejudices to view this film. If you're like me whenever 'Ernesto Che Guevera' is even mentioned en passant, I found myself conflicted. Yes, I too have many preconceived notions as to who the 'real' Che was. But from the film adaptation of the novel by Guevera's own hand, we learn that Ernesto started out in earnest (scuza the pun): Guevera studied to become a doctor. Quite the noble calling. And far flung from his later political activist career where his life was cut short: he died in a hail of bullets; called for by his Bolivian captors and eventual executioners.Let me set that all aside for now. Ernesto or 'Fuser' as he was affectionately known to his side kick and co-adventurer, Alberto, who is slightly older but still in his twenties plans the adventure of a lifetime. Together the 20 year-old idealists riding two up in the saddle atop an oil bleeding but still functioning single cylinder 500 cc Norton affectionately named 'The Mighty One' set out. They envision seeing and experiencing the length and a good part of the breadth of the South American continent.The intrepid explorers begin their journey in their native Argentina. From Buenos Aires, they ride south. Then they plan to head north: hug the Pacific coast and follow the roads all the way up from the tip of Chile. Their destination: Venezuela. Once they reached Caracas, Fuser and Alberto would celebrate the latter's 30th birthday. The entire journey was to take no more than six months.En route, the explorers experience everything from the forever changing landscapes such as the towering Chilean Andes to the gamut of human emotions. Even at their tender age, I doubt if the lads were prepared or even welcomed their encounters with fellow 'average' Latin Americans. Especially poignant is their visit to a Leper Colony. Fuser is moved from the very first encounter. Moreover, he cannot hide his indignation at the suffering of the sick but also for the oppressed peoples that they encounter throughout. Alberto, on the other hand, is all too consumed with his amorous side of the adventure. For certain, he is not one to morph into a deep thinker. Not if a loose skirt or unbuttoned female tunic beckons nearby.Late in the film, Alberto though does have his epiphany; sort of. In Venezuela,the two pals who were almost inseparable but at times insufferable; part ways. Fuser now filled to the brim with memories of the social injustices he's experienced everywhere on the continent is resolute: he vows to change the world. Or at least the Latin American contingent. Alberto,not of the same persuasion, disavows himself from that laudable platitude. But not before the two exchange tear filled hugs. Then Alberto returns to Venezuela. Fuser doesn't join him; he sets his sights farther afield: Cuba.Throughout this film, I was drawn to their journey. Many times I felt transported to each scene: I was right there, alongside the two Latin musketeers. And along with the ethos and pathos themes there was plenty of humor to draw from as well: such as their harrowing escape from the local dance hall after Fuser tried to romance the drunken mechanic's wife. The benevolent tradesman who just hours earlier had offered to repair the 'tired' Norton for free, sobered up just in time: a friend caught the two tryst makers escaping into the Chilean night air; almost certain they would christen their chance meeting.Both director Walter Salles and producer Robert Redford deserve many kudos for making this stirring and moving film. Despite what your views now are on how Ernesto Che Guevera turned out later, if you're like me, theFuser character as portrayed brilliantly in the film by Gael Garcia Bernal is one to emulate at any age. To wit, it's never too late to show compassion on those that society has forgotten. Makes no difference where you live either. Or what your political affiliations are. How can we remain silent when so much injustice still abounds in the world? I remember Fuser saying the exact same line. Many times; still needs to be said even more.Good on all those who helped make this film a reality. Because the reality is this: much social injustice exists around the globe even today; still seems to be a topic that is to be avoided at all costs; especially by the 'haves'. A pithy but needed observation...

"Let the world change you;then you can change the world".There are certain things in our life, which are just waiting for their time. If we just allow them knowingly or unknowingly, they do their part so fine. When you encounter them for the first time they seem like they are yet another same thing that you've crossed a million times, but slowly... slowly they breach into you, your most private portions of your soul.They make you cry. Cry not out of pain but out of ineffable Happiness.They make you feel your presence and its prominence on this lonely planet.They change you, make you what you weren't ever before.They keep knocking you from within and churn you like anything.This is one such creation.... 'The Motorcycle Diaries' a Spanish movie directed by Walter Salles.for a detailed version, please visit : http://wp.me/p11OxZ-1B

Everything has been said and more, so I will only add a grateful comment for such splendid entertaining time I got by watching this excellent movie. The Brazilian director Walter Salles did a fantastic job with a theme and locations quite hazardous and yet all the scenes seem to be as real and spontaneous as life itself in which we are participating as one more of the crowd; whatever the amount of technicians surrounding the actors they seemed to be nonexistent.Gael García Bernal as Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Rodrigo de la Serra as Alberto Granado and all those actors from Argentina, Chile and Peru were simply perfect in their roles. The locations, spectacular, although they were not the prime object to be photograph as it could have been the case in a documentary, they just happened to be there and we appreciated them.I noticed that one of the producers for this film was Robert Redford, but he didn't appear in any scene as an actor.If the real life "Che" Guevara was like the character in this film and did the things he did ending up as the myth that everybody knows, I don't know if that was so (nobody knows) but if he did, it's funny the similarity some of these personalities have in common, like Mahatma Gandhi or Eva Perón, when they only turned away from established society and fought for the poor when they suffered themselves grave injustices. Very entertaining movie, superbly done, beautiful soundtrack and excellent, well balanced script.