The Motorcycle Diaries(2004)

Submitted by Julio M

(Diarios de Motocicleta)

Oscar Winner – Best Original Song

Short pooper:
Ernesto (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Alberto (Rodrigo De La Serna), after their experiences in Peru, end their journey and bid each other farewell at an airport in Venezuela, going separate ways; Alberto became a well-known Doctor and bioscientist, while Ernesto went down in history as revolutionary leader “El Che Guevara”.

Longer version:
What starts as a carefree adventure of self-discovery and fun, slowly becomes -particularly for Ernesto, more so than for Alberto- a series of eye-opening encounters that awaken both young men to the tremendous disparity of rights and access to wealth the people they meet had access to, opposite to the high-crust opulence they came from in Argentina. The definitive breakdown of their travelling motorcycle “La Poderosa”, which forces them to continue their trip through hitchhiking and going on foot, allows for this opportunity.

Ernesto becomes progressively disillusioned of how the poorer the people he met were, the worse they were treated by everyone else. He witnesses a destitute couple being mistreated for their Communist beliefs; later on, both he and Alberto join the couple to work at the Chuquicamata copper mines in Northern Chile, where Ernesto almost gets into a fight with a foreman who treated them all as garbage. The turning point in his newfound sensibility towards others comes when he arrives at the ruins of Machu-Picchu, in the heart of Peru, where he deeply reflects how an ancient civilization capable of something so beautiful gave way to a decadent, corrupt way of life, the answer being that the Conquistadors imposed it by force and the way of the gun.

While in Peru, both men volunteer to work for a few weeks at the San Pablo Leper Colony, which is depicted as a graphic representation of the deep division ingrained in society. A river divides the colony, with the live-in staff located on the better-set Northern side, while the patients are located in partial squalor on the Southern side. While Alberto avoids antagonizing the establishment and just thinks of a good, fun time whenever possible, Ernesto shows disdain for the rules and refuses to use gloves when interacting with the patients. By this point, he has all but renounced his upbringing, in favour of more egalitarian, socially-driven beliefs of well-being for everyone, especially the more marginalized Mestizo and Indigenous peoples, all of which would cement his later crusade throughout the continent as a Socialist revolutionary.

He gives a toast on the occasion of his birthday where he lets everyone know how he feels and, despite collective concern, the danger of doing so and his asthma, decides to swim towards the Southern side and spend a night amongst the lepers. Later on, we see the two friends together for the last time at an airport in Venezuela, with Alberto intending to fly back to Argentina while Ernesto will proceed with his nascent Revolutionary efforts. Ernesto admits his birthday was actually AUGUST 8, instead of April 2 as he earlier claimed, having used this little lie as a reason to keep the journey ahead, to which Alberto retorts he knew. They bid each other farewell and go their respective ways.

The movie ends with an appearance of the real Dr. Alberto Granado, actual images of the two friends during the trip and a brief mention of the efforts of El Che Guevara -as Ernesto would come to be known in history- and his eventual assassination, allegedly facilitated by the CIA, at the Bolivian countryside in 1967.