Growing up in the United States, we are taught to "know thyself," that personal knowledge, and subsequently personal ambition, is the primary vehicle on the road of success. But at no point are we taught to "know thy country" or "know thy people." Our knowledge of America and its inhabitants is truly limited to fifth-grade geography class. And our knowledge of other countries and their people? Forget about it.
Movies touch us because we can relate to them, and in the case of most movies it is because they are introspective looks into characters' lives that help us move further down that road of self-understanding. In essence, movies perpetuate our desire to be selfish. Rarely do we watch a film that places the understanding of others above the understanding of the protagonist.
Walter Salles, the director responsible for 1998's award-winning "Central Station," has made a movie that asks viewers to reconsider their approach to self-knowledge.
"The Motorcycle Diaries," a raw and visceral film that is truly one of the year's best, offers the notion that self-recognition can only come as a result of the unselfish desire to honestly know your nation and its people. The film follows two men, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Alberto Granado, who decide to leave their homes in Buenos Aires and travel across South America on a 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle Alberto calls "The Mighty One." Their destination? The San Pablo leper colony in the Amazon.
Though it is not mentioned until the end of the film, "The Motorcycle Diaries" is based on a true story, that of political leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara. The journey taken by Guevara and Granado in the film is recalled based on the diaries Guevara kept during the eight-month trek in 1952 when he was only a 23-year-old medical student. If one went into this film with no prior knowledge of either the film or Guevara, it would be completely possible to assume that the film simply chronicles a youthful student rather than an iconic political figure. Indeed, "The Motorcycle Diaries" is not about Guevara's politics, nor is it an outwardly political film; rather, it is a captivating look at one man's realization of what is really happening in his native land, and what it means to choose your destiny.
The film is deeply touching because Guevara's slow comprehension of the state of South America causes the viewer to wonder exactly whether they are also in need of such a realization. A good portion of the film takes place in the San Pablo leper colony, where the movie was actually filmed, and Guevara's gentle and unhesitating acceptance of a maligned disease is truly affecting. How often do we unintentionally shun someone because they are part of a social taboo?
Gael Garc¡a Bernal's embodiment of Guevara is commendable, and a far fling from his breakout performance in the Mexican coming-of-age film "Y Tu Mam Tambi?n." The smoldering anger that resides under Bernal's character's quiet empathy is striking, and Bernal fills the screen with his subtly charismatic presence. De la Serna aptly plays the bumbling Alberto, a comedic balance to Bernal's pensive Ernesto. The real Alberto Granado also appears at the end of the film, providing the link between the fictional nature of the film and the reality that these events actually occurred.
Salles has been taking criticism for his compassionate portrayal of Guevara, but perhaps that is from critics who are missing the true point of this film. "The Motorcycle Diaries" is not about Guevara's politics and it is not about Guevara as a political figure; it is about him as a human being when he first opens his eyes to the world around him.
There is no denying the selfish manner in which humans live - survival of the fittest seems to be our most apt motto - but Salles' film reveals how much more we can gain by opening our eyes, and our hearts, to the people we generally ignore. That is a lesson no one - not even those who dislike Guevara - can deny.
