The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
★★★½ — The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
Walter Salles came to this project off the back of his acclaimed Central Station (1998), which had announced him as one of the more thoughtful voices in Latin American cinema, and he brought that same unhurried attentiveness to a story rooted in real events. The film adapts the journals that a young Ernesto Guevara kept during a 1952 motorcycle journey across South America with his friend Alberto Granado, a trip Guevara himself published decades later under the title "The Motorcycle Diaries." Produced across several countries, including a UK contribution via Film4, and shot on location throughout Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, it was a genuinely ambitious undertaking logistically. For Gael García Bernal, already known from Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá También, the lead role confirmed his standing as one of the most interesting young actors working in world cinema at the time.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a beautiful, quietly transformative film, not just a biopic of a young Che Guevara, but a coming-of-age journey across a continent and into a consciousness. It follows a 23-year-old Ernesto Guevara (played with remarkable sensitivity by Gael García Bernal) as he sets off on a road trip across South America with his friend Alberto Granado. What begins as a carefree adventure on a broken-down motorcycle slowly becomes something much deeper: an awakening to poverty, injustice, and the shared struggles of the people he meets along the way. Gael García Bernal is nothing short of extraordinary here, charming, curious, increasingly haunted by what he sees. He doesn’t play Che the revolutionary icon; he plays Ernesto, the student, the poet, the man whose heart cracks open mile by mile. His performance feels lived-in and humble, never forced or heroic. The cinematography captures the breathtaking scope of Latin America, from the Andes to the Amazon, with a reverence that makes the land itself feel like a character. Is it idealised? Sure. Would the later, more militant Che have approved of this tender, human portrait? Probably not. But that’s not the point. This isn’t propaganda. It’s a meditation on empathy, privilege, and how travel can change you when you actually see the people around you. Poetic, moving, and deeply humane. A powerful reminder that revolution often starts not with a gun, but with a moment of recognition in someone else’s eyes.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2004 | Watched: 2025-09-19
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Channel 4 Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK
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