The Motorcycle Diaries

The Motorcycle Diaries
Name	The Motorcycle Diaries
Director	Walter Salles
Producer	Robert Katz, Michael Nozik, Miguel Palos, Jose Antonio Félez
Based on	Memoir by Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Alberto Granado
Starring	Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Mía Maestro
Music	Gustavo Santaolalla
Cinematography	Eric Gautier
Editing	Santiago Ricci
Studio	Focus Features, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Participant Media
Distributor	Focus Features, Universal Pictures International
Released	2004
Runtime	126 minutes
Country	Argentina, Brazil, Chile, United Kingdom, United States
Language	Spanish, Portuguese
Budget	$11 million
Box office	$57 million

The Motorcycle Diaries is a 2004 biographical drama film directed by Walter Salles that dramatizes a youthful South American road trip undertaken by Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado in 1952. The film adapts passages from travel memoirs and frames formative experiences across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela that influenced Guevara's later political life. It stars Gael García Bernal as Guevara and Rodrigo de la Serna as Granado, and features music by Gustavo Santaolalla.

Plot

The narrative follows two medical students, Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Alberto Granado, who set off from Buenos Aires on a refurbished motorcycle dubbed "La Poderosa II", intending to see South America and perform clinical work. Their journey takes them through border crossings at Mendoza Province, encounters with miners at the Chuquicamata region, and stays at a leper colony on Peruvian Amazonia—each stop exposing them to poverty, exploitation, and indigenous suffering under multinational interests like International Telephone and Telegraph-era concessions and mining conglomerates. In Lima, Guevara and Granado confront urban inequality, then travel along the Andes to the highland mining towns and the glacier-laden passes, witnessing labor disputes that echo events like the Catastrophe of the Andes and the legacy of Bartolomé Mitre-era policies. The finale culminates in a crossing into La Paz, Bolivia and a parting in Caracas, Venezuela, where individual decisions foreshadow Guevara's later involvement with revolutionary movements such as the Cuban Revolution.

Background and development

The screenplay draws principally on the memoirs of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and Alberto Granado, combining episodic travelogue with political portraiture. Director Walter Salles collaborated with screenwriters including José Rivera and based visual research on photographic archives of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and period maps of 1950s Latin America. Production development involved co-productions among companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States, with financing influenced by art-house distributors like Focus Features and institutions such as Mubi-era festival circuits. Casting aimed to reflect authentic regional identities, leading to the selection of Gael García Bernal, known for work with Alejandro González Iñárritu-associated auteurs, and Rodrigo de la Serna, with a background in Argentine cinema and theater.

Themes and analysis

Critical readings emphasize themes of political radicalization, solidarity with indigenous peoples, and critiques of foreign corporate influence represented by episodes set in mining towns and medical clinics. The film treats Ernesto "Che" Guevara less as a later icon of Cuban Revolution mythology and more as an emergent figure shaped by encounters with workers in locales reminiscent of the Potosí mining complex and the social realities of Peronism-era Argentina. Cinematography by Eric Gautier highlights landscape as character—Andean passes, the Amazon Basin and coastal cities evoke works by filmmakers like Terrence Malick in their visual lyricism. Music by Gustavo Santaolalla adds motifs resonant with folk traditions from regions associated with artists like Atahualpa Yupanqui.

Production

Principal photography took place across multiple countries including Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, and locations doubling for Bolivia; production teams navigated local permits from municipal authorities in Buenos Aires and mountain regulations near the Andes. Costume and props departments referenced archival garments and period medical equipment held in collections such as the Museo Casa de Ernesto Che Guevara and local university archives. The motorcycle and ancillary vehicles were period-accurate restorations; makeup and continuity teams worked to age and weather costumes across the course of the journey. Post-production included color grading to achieve the film’s warm, sun-bleached palette and sound mixing to balance diegetic street ambiences from markets in Lima and mining echoes from locations resembling Potosí.

Release and reception

The film premiered at international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, before commercial release by Focus Features and distribution through Universal Pictures International in various territories. Critics praised the performances of Gael García Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna and the film’s cinematography, while some commentators debated its depiction of historical accuracy versus romanticized narrative, invoking discussions around historiography of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and portrayals of leftist figures in cinema. The film received awards and nominations, notably recognition for Gustavo Santaolalla's score and festival prizes, and achieved modest box office success across Europe, Latin America, and North America.

Legacy and adaptations

The film contributed to renewed international interest in the early life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and stimulated scholarship, exhibitions at institutions like the Museum of the Latin American venues, and guided tours to sites depicted in the film such as the Museo Casa de Ernesto Che Guevara in Alta Gracia. It inspired stage adaptations and influenced subsequent cinematic portrayals of revolutionary figures, feeding into debates in film studies that reference directors like Walter Salles and contemporaries including Fernando Meirelles. The film’s soundtrack and imagery entered popular culture, appearing in retrospectives at festivals honoring Latin American cinema and prompting academic essays linking the journey to broader movements like 20th-century Latin American social movements.

Category:2004 films Category:Biographical films Category:Latin American films