Film Review of Diarios de motocicleta
Year: 2004 Reviewer: Chris Docker
For many Westerners, the whole of South America is little more than some names of countries on a map. The whole surface area of the United States would almost fit into Brasil - a single SA country. Poverty afflicts what is naturally a very rich area. Spanish conquest, followed by U.S. monetary domination, wiped out the indigenous infrastructures, both social and agricultural. Most of the world neither knows or cares.
Against such a background, a political film around Che Guevara, one of South America's most well-known revolutionaries, could find fertile soil. Yet, apart from noting that the CIA backed Guevara's final elimination, Motorcycle Diaries skilfully avoids the temptation to make a political film. Instead, it firstly introduces us to some of the contrasts and beauties that make up South America and with which many western audiences will be unfamiliar - the grandeur of Buenos Airies, the jaw-dropping spectacle of Valparaíso, the historical time-warps of Cuzco and Macchu Picchu, and the natural wonders of the Andes and Amazon. Secondly, it tells a story that could apply to thousands of youngsters who take time out to travel extensively and get in touch with themselves. Starting out as a simple adventure, Guevara slowly learns more about himself through the people he meets, realisation of disparities and injustice and the terrible sufferings many have take for granted. In making a film about discovering one's own humanity, Salles has neatly sidestepped potential arguments over Guevara as the political leader and the more limited audience that would attract - what we see is a young boy who realises the world could be a better place and who builds the determination to do something about it. Salles has also given us a gem through which to glimpse a peoples and their cultures, attempting to draw a unity across the broad range of ethnic diversity within Latin America. The film charts the dawning of a social conscience, providing both the context and one character's developing awareness that, put together, spell the potential for change. Overall we are left with a movie that is far more than a biopic of the romanticised Che Guevara - it is a film of touching human warmth, made with consummate skill, and one that can reach out and entrance the hearts of all.
Rating: 9/10
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