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The motorcycle diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) - Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Susana Lanteri, Walter Salles

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Let the world change you... and you can change the world.

In January 1952, the almost 30-year-old biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) and his younger friend, the 23-year-old student close to finishing his medical degree, Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (Gael García Bernal), set off from Buenos Aires on an old but treasured Norton 500 for an adventure through Latin America. The first part of their journey is more or less as they expected, although the arduous trip takes it toll on La Poderosa (The Mighty One), as they nicknamed the motorbike, and it gives up the ghost in Chile, after a nasty encounter with a herd of cows. By the time they get to Machu Pichu, the middle class young men have begun to see Latin America through eyes that have been opened to poverty and oppression, high-handed big business and the sheer hardship of daily life. They find themselves at a leper colony in the Peruvian Amazon, and Guevara, whose speciality is leprology, realises that something fundamental deep inside his being has changed.

Theatrical propaganda posters

The motorcycle diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film Ernesto 'Che' Guevara biography Argentina South America Alberto Granado road trip motorbike

Persons of interest

Gael García Bernal .... Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
Rodrigo De la Serna .... Alberto Granado
Mía Maestro .... Chichina Ferreyra
Mercedes Morán .... Celia de la Serna
Jean Pierre Noher .... Ernesto Guevara Lynch
Lucas Oro .... Roberto Guevara
Marina Glezer .... Celita Guevara
Sofia Bertolotto .... Ana Maria Guevara
Ricardo Díaz Mourelle .... Uncle Jorge
Diego Giorzi .... Rodolfo
Facundo Espinosa .... Tomas Granado
Susana Lanteri .... Aunt Rosana
Fernando Llosa .... Von Puttkamer
Marta Lubos .... Schatzie von Puttkamer
Natalia Lobo .... La Negra
Carlos Rivkin .... Horacio Ferreyra
Elvio Suarez .... Uncle Martin
Jackelyne Vásquez .... Luz
Pablo Villarrazza .... Esteban Aguirre
Ernesto "Che Guevara .... Author: Notas de viaje
Alberto Granado .... Author: Con el Che por America Latina
José Rivera .... Screenwriter
Walter Salles .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

The motorcycle diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) official movie site
The motorcycle diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) film production notes
The motorcycle diaries (Diarios de motocicleta) QuickTime movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS - Oscars) 2005: Won: Achievement in music written for motion pictures - Original song (Al otro lado del río); Nominated: Best Screenplay - Adapted
Bangkok International Film Festival 2005: International Competition
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) 2004: Won: Best Film not in the English Language (Michael Nozik, Edgard Tenembaum, Karen Tenkhoff, Walter Salles), Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music (Gustavo Santaolalla); Nominated: Best Film, Best Actor (Gael García Bernal), Best Supporting Actor (Rodrigo De la Serna), Best Screenplay - Adapted (Jose Rivera), Best Cinematography (Eric Gautier)
Cannes Film Festival 2004: In competition
Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2004: Nominated: Best film with subtitles, Best biography, documentary or true drama
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes) 2004: Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film
International Press Academy Golden Satellite Awards 2004: Actor In A Motion Picture - Drama (Gael García Bernal), Motion Picture - Foreign Film
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2004: Zabaltegi: Festivals' Top
Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2004: Masterpiece
Toronto International Film Festival 2004: Viacom Gala

See also Che (Part Two): Guerrilla, Che (Part Two): Guerrilla
Studios and distributors:

Icon Film Distribution

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

~~Ernesto Rafael "Che" Guevara de la Serna~~
Fidel Alejandro Castro Rúz
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina
Patrice Emery Lumumba
Salvador Allende Gossens

Gee, you've gotta love those spooks at the other CIA, who sit around all day thinking up ways to make the world safer for "Americans" by assassinating other Americans, toppling democratically elected governments and replacing them with military dictators, training death squads, destabilising legitimate governments, training and supplying terrorists, etc. That assassination awaits Che Guevara a few years after the end of The motorcycle diaries adds poignancy all the way through.

Gael García Bernal has a great time playing Che. I've liked him since I first saw him in And your mother too (Y tu mamá también). I still like him.

Oh, Che is pronounced "cheh", not "shay" and means "mate" or "pal" in Argentina and "an Argentinean" in the rest of South America.