Contest Among Wolves

Motorcycle Diaries

Walter Salles

Brazil

2004

"Man truly achieves his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by the physical necessity of selling himself as a commodity."

— Che Guevara, Man and Socialism in Cuba

All roads lead to the heart—a premise Walter Salles used for his 1997 film “Central Station” and has been doing continuously to most of his films. Depicting the time when famous revolutionist Ernesto “Che” Guevarra traveled South America which according to him he only knew in books with his friend Roberto de la Serna, the director ultimately expanded the distance his characters are voyaging. In “Central Station” the journey takes place within Brazil whereas in “Motorcycle Diaries”, we are taken into a humbling immersion from Argentina to Chile, to Peru, and Venezuela. Thus creating a tremendous force that will shake the world’s political philosophy yet at the time latent in the soul of Che Guevarra, the film still position the immensity of the character’s potent into a more personally connecting height.

I really don’t know much about Che Guevarra though I sometimes see his printed face on some shirts my schoolmates in college are wearing. And once or twice I’ve heard his name from few friends telling that he is a communist leader. That for no any excuse penciled in some sketches of an old man in some shabby clothes and untidy beard—in other words, an unlikable man. Probably one of the biggest surprises in my life is to see the youthful Che Guevarra and get swept away by a charismatic portrayal in the film by Gael Garcia Bernal. That must be the first and most apparent good thing about the film. Bernal is arguably the most famous Mexican actor internationally. I have watched a couple of his major movies—“Y Tu Mama Tambien”, “Babel”, “Amores Perros” and excluding “The Crime of Father Amaro” which I have long wanted to see, this is by far and by a hundred mile the best Gael Garcia Bernal I have ever witnessed. It is definitely one of those few moments where you can say that an actor is born to play such role. The recipe is simple; an internationally acclaimed Brazilian director making a film about a historical and internationally influential figure will cast no less than a big name such as Gael. Bernal’s charisma is significantly bountiful to depict such a character like Che Guevarra. I love the fact that while most of his movies are coming-of-age ones which are characterized by gambling, sex, and the happy-go-lucky personality, this is where his character has developed the most while still engaging in the free-spiritedness of his usual roles. 

To see Che in the historical Cuban Revolution is synonymous to watching Frost/Nixon and JFK—in some other words, uninterestingly austere and obnoxiously old. I have not seen those two films yet and I know it’s not fair to say what I said about them but those are what keeping me from making any efforts to watch the two. “Motorcycle Diaries” is not about the sober revolutionist Che instead the young Che in his motorcycle, loving a woman, having fun with some other woman, drinking wine, dancing Tango and Mambo, writing notes on his diaries as his groundbreaking material unfolds. For many times Che claims that the travel they embarked on is aimless however, I don’t find it absolutely true—they have always wanted to help in the advancement of medicine and treatment of the needy. This vaguely distinguished element causes an elementary perplexity in the narrative. The soliloquy of Che mostly at the end part and the over-all treatment of the film support the feeling that Che has found a new passion—something he wants to pursue. And because the film sculptured the narrative with declarations about the aimlessness of the travel and the implicitness of the medical objective, the perceptible transformation Che undergoes seems to be attributed to the goal he has always had from the start. The change the protagonist experiences is his unexpected empathy to the poor and not to the sick because again, his empathy to the sick has always been there. The film could have been more effective and have shown more form through working on the contrast and similarities had the film emphasized that difference between Che’s stance to the sick and Che’s stance to the poor.

The second best thing about Salles’s work is that it is enormously engaging and charming. Accounting all the allure to Gael is of course an exaggeration for the director cunningly represented the character and the adventure in a mutual and fair balance—never the character did overrun the adventure nor the adventure did overrun the character—a friendly combination of a character-driven and a plot-driven story I can say. The events and the places Ernesto and Roberto have been are equally treated plot-wise and narrative-wise. Even the travel by the boat from one place to another has provided a lot of fleshing out of the characters. We see and know them better from every point in their journey. The guileless and profound relationship between the two is adorable, most of the time funny and more importantly—secured. The relationship though between Ernesto and the patients and the rest of the community in the hospital can not be underestimated but perhaps because of its less plot time relative to his adventures with Roberto I feel that the main source of heart in the film is the adventure of the two more than the doctor-rich-privileged and patient-poor-unprivileged affiliation. The later can be the main source however of inspiration for Che himself.

The film is highly patriarchal. I am not sure if it is appropriate to talk about feminism here but it feels so masculine from start to finish. The motorcycle alone is an exceedingly masculine symbol. Their demonstrated flair about women whether Argentine or Chilean adds to it, plus the gun given to Ernesto from his father. Che and Roberto are also highly educated being a graduating medical student and a biochemist respectively. All of their qualities are so asymmetrical to the women in the story. Women are being left, being fantasized, to some extent being sweetly taken advantage; some are reduced to being dance partners, and the worse—being sick, and the worst—being treated by a no less than male doctor. Somewhat and somehow it contributes to the notion that men are the foundation of new ideologies and courageous resistance.

Che conceives a unity for all Latin and South Americans, all people from Mexico all the way down to Magellan strait. Visually this is reflected in the film. The travel took place in at least four different countries and yet the treatment from one place to another is consistent. While it is a common practice in filmmaking to consciously delineate a place to another, “Motorcycle Diaries” consciously unifies those Latin countries, at least visually. The most breathtaking scenery in the film would be the remnants of Inca civilization and even more breathtaking is Che’s realization of how can an empire capable of doing such marvel be swept out to extinction. The most allegorical scene on the hand would be the one where Che after giving a speech on his birthday celebration decides to cross the river which caused a lot of panic to the people shouting at him to swim back for no one has ever crossed that river yet especially on a cold midnight. The nurses and the other superior people on the other side of the river and the more ordinary people on the further cheering for Che to make it symbolizes his foreseen struggle to alleviate inequality.

“Motorcycle Diaries” is a worthwhile movie. Truly a threshold of understanding the famous Che Guevarra in his infamous time, the film gets so thrilling with the most human adventures and so endearing with unsaturated nostalgia. If the purpose of this film is to demonstrate a likeable person against someone who is solely an enemy of capitalists, then I commend the film. Now I can comfortably say that in any case I will take any further reading about Che the only prejudice I will have are the encouraging ones.