Motorcycle Diaries

Traveling across South America on a motorcycle transformed how Che looked upon the world. Four months of close contact to poverty provided an intimate familiarity with the problems facing the people of that region. Ernesto and Alberto became dependent on these destitute strangers to continue the adventure.

Ernesto saw the inequality that was embedded in the geography of South America. At one point after rolling into town, Ernesto and Alberto have to decide where they are going to sleep. In the mansion on the hill or with the poor people. They choose to sleep among the poor people. It is no accident of what choice they make. In this movie the poor share food, shelter, and provide emotional support to Che and his friend. Of course people from the elite class help him out. But the aspects of wealth provide a barrier for compassion. When his motorcycle breaks down a mechanic refuses to help them because they have no money. Only when he sees the fake newspaper clipping heralding them as handsome glorious disease fighting doctors (too many adjectives? –Yes) are they assisted. There are initial pretensions between him and his friend in regard to class. Alberto pleads with a wealthy landowner that he is a doctor and that in being that deserves to sleep in more respectable surroundings. But after endless miles through the diverse terrain of South America provide an immutable bond to the struggles of the people.

Segregation is a common element in this movie. The poor never live among the rich. Even among the nuns class-consciousness exists. The lepers, though known not to be contagious, are separated on an island to live among themselves. A river separates the doctors from their patients. Che both emotionally and literally overcomes the separation between these two groups when he swims to the other side.

Che notices how constant poverty eviscerated the lives of the mountain people of Peru. Having food to eat and having a place to sleep become luxuries that are too expensive for the millions of poor to obtain. Class inequality causes people to participate in the destruction of their own land. Many gather in early morning for the possibility of working in the coalmines. Some are chosen, but are still facing low wages, and likely an early death. These things become ingrained in Guevara’s mind. These are memories that provide the seeds for his revolutionary ideology.

When Che moves beyond the comfortable existence of the middle class he sees first hand the hardships of reality. This movie is incredible. The still video photographs of the people of the America’s are composed beautifully and the movie is sentimental and meaningful without being pointlessly nostalgic or didactic. Being a constant witness to the geography of any land and people has the power to change the philosophy of anyone. A broken down motorcycle provides Che and Alberto to the path towards seeing humanity as a whole. It is impressive how much Che learns from his journey, and the dramatic change it brought to his life.