I can see how this movie is a favourite of a lot of people. The actors played the roles extremely well and were aided by a decent script. The entire movie was shot well and everything seemed to be exactly what you would want in a good movie. The problem however is that the movie was not for me. I struggled with it not overly enjoying the ride I was taken on. This is not a knock on the makers of the movie, as I said they did a good job, its just I personally didn't really enjoy it much.

The Motorcycle Diaries is a "road movie" about the journey of a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend Alberto though South America. On the trip they are deeply impacted by the social and economic injustices they witness, and Che is transformed by the experience that would shape the rest of his life. It's a film about poverty and exploitation, and it's filled with a love for the poor and the masses of people. The film doesn't get into how Che became a famous revolutionary, but rather focuses on his gradual political awakening as he comes to understand the nature of capitalism as a fundamentally oppressive system in which the wealthy benefit from the suffering of the poor. Everywhere Che and Alberto go, in town after town, country after country, that basic formula of oppression is consistent. The Motorcycle Diaries stars Gael García Bernal as Che, and his expressive yet subtle performance keeps the audience engaged in the moment while also giving a hint of the future charismatic revolutionary.

I came to "The Motorcycle Diaries" not knowing anything about Che Guevara other than his connection with the Cuban revolution and his face on T-shirts and posters. I enjoyed the film. The travelogue aspects and the adventures of the young men were interesting. The characters were quite likable and often amusing.It became increasingly clear in the second half that Guevara was being offered to us as a kind of secular saint. Even so, when the movie was over I said to myself, "a good picture." In fact, it stimulated me to find out more about what Che Guevara did in his later life.Then came the disillusionment. Apparently he oversaw the execution of hundreds of people when he came to power with Castro. He was for a time strongly pro-Soviet and was instrumental in arranging for the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba. In fact, he detested the United States so much that, based on his remarks, he would not have been opposed to seeing New York and other American cities reduced to radioactive rubble.And there was much more to discover about his later life, none of it commendable. In the end, as was stated at the end of the movie, he was killed with the help of the CIA.Still, it was a good movie. You just have to remember that it was only a movie.

This is a film that wants to paint the picture of Che Gueverra's epiphany. It wants to be important. Brazilian Director Walter Salles (Central Staion) knows the basic approach of telling a chronological story, filled with visuals which tell the audience as much as the dialog. The idea of two friends embarking on a journey that could never be completed on its original terms (travelling South America on an old motorcycle with hardly any funds or plans to earn their way) makes for the small bit of drama we get. And that's the problem. The future history is irrelevant to the movie experience unless you are told otherwise, and we are not. Our lot is an expressed realization of inequity and injustice through roadside interviews, nothing first hand. That's not drama. Our boys struggling to get along despite their circumstances and ideals (one wants justice while the other comically wants women) seems to be what we are left with. Our two leads, Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna are compelling and keep our attention as the ultimate road trip duo. The music enchants the scenes bringing you into these travelers shoes, but their minds would never accept events this way. They came from family money and protected upbringings. It is an endearing movie at times but the change that is supposed to be taking place on screen is still somewhere in the writers' screenplay, you would have to believe. And here that's what you have to do.