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Motorcycle
Diaries - DVD
2004/Rated R/Mca Home
Video
127 minutes
It's date night and your better
half makes it very clear that the DVD you're bringing home
better not include car chases, sports, token violence or
heaven forbid, motorcycles. What are you going to do?
Believe it or not the answer may
lie in the foreign film that took the world by surprise in
2004. Motorcycle Diaries
tells the story of an 8,000 mile trip from Argentina to Peru
undertaken in 1952 by Ernesto Guevara
de la Serna and his friend
Alberto Granado. They use everything from a
motorcycle to their plain old tired feet on the final youthful
adventure before settling down to finish college and start a
settled adult life of job, wife and children.
 Rather than being just a movie
based on true events, its a film about the supposed
life-changing moments that took Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
from a rugby-playing medical student to the left wing
revolutionary 'Che' Guevara
who stood along side Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution.
Set among the beautiful
landscapes of South America, Motorcycle Diaries halfheartedly tries to be both a
traveling buddy film as well as a look at the coming of age
for both of the adventurers. Although the experiences in
Motorcycle Diaries would eventually lead to the creation of a
controversial communist guerilla, the political overtones are
nearly non-existent. If anything, what happens can be taken
more as empathy for human suffering than party propaganda. But
then again, maybe that was the intention, painting communism
as the more caring political system.
But its the first thirty minutes
which will keep motorcycle viewers glued to the screen with a
movie seemingly made for riders. We watch the young
adventurers plan the trip that circles around the South
American Continent, with enthusiasm so overflowing they seem
to bounce around like excited little schoolboys. Packing is
furiously done and parents objections flatly ignored, all with
the goal of getting out on the open road.
For every biker who's picked an
unvisited spot on a map and dreamed about riding there can
relate to the scene of them saying goodbye to 'Che's' family,
motorcycle laden down with rucksacks, tents and supplies.
Alberto Granado character's love
for his 1939 500cc Norton
is no less than any rider you'd meet today would have for his
own two-wheeled child. The bikes nickname of
'The Mighty One' is put to
the test as they ride through all types of terrain and the
most severe weather, inevitably resulting in a few accidents
here and there.
Once the motorcycle leaves
center stage though, the film stumbles along from town to town
with each having its own mishap or comedic misunderstanding.
Even though it wasn't made as a motorcycle movie, once this
prop is gone from the screen nothing seems to tie the
travelers together. The viewer is beaten over the head with
how noble 'Che' can be and the only time Granado has any real
screen time is to further that notion.
But you still feel as if you
have to watch it and see exactly what drives a person to leave
a middle class life for the communistic ideals. This is an
'And then..' movie. At the
end of the film the screen is filled with the events that
happen over the years that follow. This isn't bad in itself, but anyone
who knows a little history will read the text with more than
an air of disbelief.
Bottom
Line - For riders, worth the motorcycle scenes and
it'll also keep the better half happy!
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