The Motorcycle Diaries is a film about two young men who journey through South America while on break from school and who discover a world far more complex than their social structure in Argentina had ever showed them. The movie begins very lighthearted and comical but slowly gets darker as the story progresses. The inconsistency between life of city dwellers and indigenous Indians is shown and is depicted as having a huge effect on the two boys. The leper colony is what is shown last and is presented to have the biggest effect on their perspective of this inequality. If one did not know anything about this movie or the people depicted in it before hand than it comes as a surprise at the end that one of the boys, Ernesto Guevara, goes on to become a Latin American hero and plays a role in the Cuban revolution and will become known throughout the world as El Che.
His life is one that us heavily speculated on and it seems as if everyone wants to give an opinion of what it is that shaped his world view, what it was that made him make the transfer from Ernesto Guevara to El Che. Elena speculates that Guevara’s upbringing as a middle class boy in Argentina played a role in his transformation. He had access to books and education that provided him the sight to see what was really going on in the world. His eyes were open to the differences between middle class, working class, and indigenous people. Also, his lack of opinion on the Peron government is a huge topic for Elena. HE is depicted as have respect for the equalization that the working class got under Peron but utter disgust with the tourism market that was opened up. He seemed to scoff at people that traveled to resorts or the coasts, he was a believer in what seems to be traveling to learn and see the world. It is brought to light in this article though that his trip with Alberto was not his first out, he had previously traveled around Argentina and this fact could explain why he wanted to go out farther this time.
Drinot and Zulawski focus on Peru and Bolivia and their effect on the shaping of El Che’s worldview. Both talk about how little Che seemed to know about the indigenous people, it seems by the time it came to care, he cared much more for helping the people inside of knowing truly where they were coming from. Drinot points out that Guevara still played into many social stereotypes of the Indians, which is quite odd considering they were who he seemed the most interested in during his travels. He does not seem interested in politics though, very little writing exists, he focused much more on the people than the politics.
Overall, the movie is a pretty good depiction of what could have been a mile marker in Ernesto Guevara’s transformation in El Che and it seems that he will be written about by many people for years to come and the speculation about his life will never end.
You raise some good points, but please provide page numbers when you make reference to the readings. (Tony the TA)
ReplyDeleteWell, I wouldn't agree with your entire post. I think you overestimate this 'blindness' that Guevara has when embarking on his trip. From its onset, he knows he wants to help people, and seems open to encountering the people of Latin America. I agree with you that of the multitude of speculations, it's difficult to know who Che really was. His life is a bit of a mystery, and I don't think anyone can really pinpoint who the man was. The closest thing we can do is read through all we have about him, from his autobiographies to historical accounts of his actions. We do know that he has been demonized by some and basically canonized by others, so it's hard to say whether The Motorcycle Diaries is an accurate portrayal of his life and, more importantly, his character.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Che's focus seems to be on the people and not the politics. It kind of makes one think about the picture that american society has painted if Che.
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