Review of The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) by Ratul C — 28 Jun 2016

I'll start by saying I can't pretend to know very much about the life of Ernesto Guevara, and the little I do know could be written down on a post-it note. My evaluation of this film is based on its execution as a movie and not as a an accurate historical account.

I first heard of this movie as a teenager and at the time, watching a movie with the word "diaries" in it was of no interest to me. It sounded like it would be quite bland. Eventually I decided to give it a shot, and in the first scene I was hooked. The music, the cinematography, the internal monologue all brought me into a new world. Even just watcing a character packing a bag in the way it was presented was intriguing to watch and instilled the type of excitement in me as a soldier gearing up in a war movie.

As the film went on, I found myself learning about the world in which the characters lived in a way that reflected the main characters' own experiences, culminating in a final retrospective scene that really makes you realise where you started and where you ended up - both the characters and the audience.

The subtleties in this film in exploring grand themes is something every filmmaker should aspire to accomplish. It avoids the hyperbole often demonstrated in stories of personal growth and globe trotting. This was the first non-blockbuster film to shake me from my seat and really give me an idea of the beauty that filmmaking could be.

This movie, to me, was flawless.