NEW Motorcycle Diaries (DVD)

This film was bought principally because of who starred in it - Gael Garcia Bernal. I'm a big fan of this very solid actor. What a Treasure this film is! Cinematography was wonderful, the story was amazingly intriguing about Che Guavera (I didn't know almost anything about Guavera, so I was very enlightened - happily). As most of this story was based on the travels of these two young men, it was even of more interest given the adventure it became. It was a wonderfully entertaining and riveting story, with a strong storyline, amazing photography, super cast, and a very very strong cast especially the two leads. I can't say enough about Gael Garcia Bernal - he's amazed me with his work in everything I've seen him in. If he's in it, I'm interested to see it on that alone. I'd highly recommend this film - a jewel!

Great service. Arrived promptly. Fun movie and amazing scenery. Who wouldn't want to go backpacking across South America.

This movie tells us the story of two young men, and the adventure that would change the way they saw the world. The travellers, medical student Ernesto Guevara and biochemist Alberto Granado, decide to start a journey across South America. In January 1952 they begin their quest in an old motorcycle, without too much money but eager to visit new countries in order to learn more about South America and its inhabitants. As minutes go by, you will start to feel part of their journey, and absorb the different scenes, events and people that end up making an indelible impression on them.

Gael Garc'ía Bernal plays a believable Ernesto Guevara, the person that would later be known as "Che". Rodrigo de la Serna is just as convincing as Alberto Granado, and he makes us laugh from time to time with his antics. However, the main characters aren't them, but the people they encounter in their travels, and that add up to represent people of all South America who suffered from differents kinds of injustice. We aren't shown the people that were well-off, although we get a glimpse of their lives when Ernesto visits his girlfriend before he starts his journey. Rather, we are faced with the problems of those who lived in less fortunate circumstances, for example aborigines that had been expelled of their lands, or poor people that couldn't find a job and had to travel looking for one. The spectator is also shown people who helped those in need, for example in the hospital for leprosy patients that Ernesto and Alberto visited with the purpose of learning more about the disease...

"The Motorcycle Diaries" is based on the two books that Guevara and Granados wrote about their travel: "The Motorcycle Diaries" by Guevara and "With Che Through Latin America" by Alberto Granado. It is highly likely that those books helped Brazilian director Walter Salles to make a film that sounds so true, but he obviously also contributed, and a lot, to make a film that is far from the banal, and that appeals to those who watch it. I think that it is also worthwhile to point out that the director avoided any kind of ideological preaching, something that could have been tiresome. Salles stresses, instead, that the journey was an occasion for self-discovery...

All in all, I think that you won't regret watching "The Motorcycle Diaries". It isn't an eulogy about "Che" Guevara but rather a film that gives us the chance of learning what kind of experiences molded the way in which he viewed things. If you aren't interested in that, you can just consider this movie an opportunity to appreciate the scenery of some really beautiful places in South America, and to enjoy the adventures of two young men that embarked on the journey of a lifetime...

Belen Alcat