THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (2004) *** All of the fundamentals of an extended road trip are represented, and that's the heart of the tale: illness, vehicle trouble, romance, inebriation... Walter Salles can be a tremendous story teller, but he seems slightly intimidated by his subject matter, he doesn't want to betray the candor and simplicity that was Ernesto Guevara, before he turned into Che. He doesn't, and he does offer some fundamental insights into the great man: that his motivation was ultimately compassion rather than ego, that his nature was essentially quiet but resolute, that his courage was ingrained. Gael García Bernal's portrayal of Guevara didn't initially strike me as all that exceptional-not bad but maybe something of an opportunity lost-until I realized that despite Rodrigo De la Serna being the most charismatic, forthright and entertaining character, Bernal had somehow, I'm still not sure how, exerted dominance by the film's conclusion. The insights into Che's psychological make-up aren't deep (someone could have a good time claiming that Ernesto became Che because an aristocratic society tease wouldn't give it up, wrongly, I'm sure), in fact the insights into the roots of contemporary South American politics are more clear. None of this runs particularly deep, though. Salles understands that distractions would nullify the focus and rhythm of what is, essentially, a road movie. The suffering that Guevara witnessed, and the injustice, was no doubt profound, but here it doesn't look all that much different than what you might witness walking through the low-rent districts of any major city, or at "hiring time" any morning among migrant workers in Los Angeles. Guevara likely witnessed something worse than that, but to depict it too literally would distract from Guevara's interior dynamic, which is the point of it all.
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