Diarios de Motocicleta (“Motorcycle Diaries”)

Based on the true story of two college friends, Alberto Granado and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, this insightful biography describes their inspiring and life-altering journey through South America in the early 1950’s.

Starting out in Buenos Aires, Argentina on January 4, 1952 on a rickety motorcycle, optimistically nicknamed “The Mighty One” (“La Poderosa”), the youths’ goal was to travel 8000 kilometers in 4 months ending in Venezuela to celebrate Alberto’s 30th birthday.

While the landscapes changed and they met the disadvantaged along the way, so did their ideals and attitudes towards justice and human rights of their indigenous neighbors. A quote from the then 23 year old Ernesto Guevara describes it best, “As we left Chuquicamata [Chile] we could feel the world changing, or was it us?”

I thought this film was a delightfully fun and engaging look into the journey of this future Cuban revolutionary, “Che” (Argentinean slang for ‘friend’), brought to life through his journals. As viewers were guided along the beautiful landscapes of South America, which without the story line would have been nothing short of spectacular in it of itself, we made a parallel journey through their humbling realizations of the world’s injustices that forever changed the course of these young men’s lives. I absolutely recommend it! This film is available in major movie rental stores.

- By Sue Lavene, Language Travel Consultant