Motorcycle Diaries
Rachelle Motter
Prof. Dolores Chew
HIS-910
09 April 2010
The Motorcycle Diaries The film Motorcycle Diaries is the biography of the early life of the communist, revolutionary Ernesto Guevara, also known as Che Guevara situated in Buenos Aires in 1952. He was a medical student, who left Argentina on a road trip with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, to get to discover the rest of Latin America on an old motorcycle. The motive of their journey of several months was the desire to explore and discover new cultures and ways of living, but in the same continent. This trip was more an improvisation than well-organized and planned. Guevara’s main goal was to arrive at the tip of South America before his friend, the pilot, turned thirty. They visited Chile, Peru and Venezuela. It is clear how these characters are curious and dreamy, willing to learn new things in life. The effectiveness of the film as a source of history of a time period was not excellent because the film just focused on Che Guevara’s beginnings. It showed how he started to opt for his political career rather than continue medicine, yet it did not go more in depth of the actual accomplishments he had. It was evident that the cruelty, injustice and tremendous poverty created a strong impact on Guevara, psychologically, emotionally and idealistically. Since then, he became a Marxist and supported Fidel Castro. Che Guevara turned his attention to South America. He believed that Bolivia would be his best bet to start a revolt, because of its discontented peasant population and the United States’ relative lack of interest in it. He grossly misjudged the political climate, however, and found it difficult to recruit soldiers. He was captured by Bolivian Army troops on October 8, 1967. The army was in a dilemma as to what to do with him; they feared a trial would only stir up support for the revolutionary. The next day they executed Che Guavera by shooting him in his cell. Che reportedly
Prof. Dolores Chew
HIS-910
09 April 2010
The Motorcycle Diaries The film Motorcycle Diaries is the biography of the early life of the communist, revolutionary Ernesto Guevara, also known as Che Guevara situated in Buenos Aires in 1952. He was a medical student, who left Argentina on a road trip with his friend Alberto Granado, a biochemist, to get to discover the rest of Latin America on an old motorcycle. The motive of their journey of several months was the desire to explore and discover new cultures and ways of living, but in the same continent. This trip was more an improvisation than well-organized and planned. Guevara’s main goal was to arrive at the tip of South America before his friend, the pilot, turned thirty. They visited Chile, Peru and Venezuela. It is clear how these characters are curious and dreamy, willing to learn new things in life. The effectiveness of the film as a source of history of a time period was not excellent because the film just focused on Che Guevara’s beginnings. It showed how he started to opt for his political career rather than continue medicine, yet it did not go more in depth of the actual accomplishments he had. It was evident that the cruelty, injustice and tremendous poverty created a strong impact on Guevara, psychologically, emotionally and idealistically. Since then, he became a Marxist and supported Fidel Castro. Che Guevara turned his attention to South America. He believed that Bolivia would be his best bet to start a revolt, because of its discontented peasant population and the United States’ relative lack of interest in it. He grossly misjudged the political climate, however, and found it difficult to recruit soldiers. He was captured by Bolivian Army troops on October 8, 1967. The army was in a dilemma as to what to do with him; they feared a trial would only stir up support for the revolutionary. The next day they executed Che Guavera by shooting him in his cell. Che reportedly