The Motorcycle Diaries

Unadorned narrative about the life of a pre-revolutionary Che Guevara, based on his diaries and a memoir from his best friend. In 1952, naive, asthmatic 23-year-old middle-class medical student Ernesto Guevara (Garcia Bernal) and his rowdy, older compadre, Alberto Granado (de la Serna) decide to take what will be a life-changing adventure. They spend a few months on Ernesto's motorcycle traveling from Buenos Aires to Venezuela. By the time they reach Chile, and then Peru, Ernesto is dismayed by the poverty and injustice he sees around him; an extended stay caring for the sick in the San Pablo leper colony provides an emotional turning point. The film avoids being either a travelogue or a political polemic, thanks to the skill of both director Salles and his two leads. Spanish with subtitles.