The Motorcycle Diaries

2004 Director Walter Salles

Based on the journals of the same name this is Walter  Salles' dramatization of a motorcycle road trip that the young Ernesto 'Che' Guevara went on in his youth that would show him his life's calling.

The Motorcycle Diaries stars Gael García Bernal as a young, pre-revolution Guevara. As a 23-year-old medical student in 1952 traveling across South America on a motorcycle with his friend Alberto Granado, played by  Rodrigo de la Serna, who co-wrote the source material. As they embark on their journey, both young men come of age and find their individual world views broadened farther than they ever expected. It is during this journey and his stay as a helper at a leper colony that Guevara realises that the South Americans are all one people controlled by dividing states. This was to be the turning point in this revolutionaries life.

Well directed and steadily paced this is quite a remarkable film. Some directorial licence has been made with regard to historical accuracy but it does not detract in the least. A very well made film.