In this weeks film the class watched "The Motorcycle Diaries" which told about the journey of Ernesto Guevara aka "Che" across the continent of South America in the turbulent era of post WWII Latin America. The film takes place in Latin America at a time of great social change. Issues such as poverty and homelessness are rampant and as "Che" embarks on his journey he is exposed to these issues at many levels. The purpose behind the film is to give the viewer an understanding of the circumstances which led Ernesto Guevara to become a famous political activist of this era. The movie begins with the two main characters (Ernesto "Fuser" and Alberto Granado) planning their trip which will take them across the continent. They must rely on a relic of a motorcycle throughout their trip which makes their journey very difficult at times. The goal of the two men trip is to arrive at a leprosy clinic in Peru, which they plan to work at upon arrival.
Throughout the film the two men are confronted with the social issues troubling the indigenous people across the continent. While examining the article written by Paulo Drinot it seems evident that while witnessing the many horrible problems of other Latin Americans "Che" began to really reflect on his own morals which eventually inspired him to become politically active. One can only imagine the rage within "Che" when he saw the injustices that seemed to be everywhere on his continent. It seems apparent that Drinot believed that "Che" was very moved by what he witnessed upon this trip. Drinot offers the perspective that after seeing his home country being plundered by the foreign outsiders he was enraged, as well as inspired to see change take place.
The other document dealing with the journey of "Che" is entitled "Point of Departure" written by Eduardo Elena. This document gives the opinion that even though this trip was very influential to Ernesto Guevara, his transformation to the famous political activist he became was much deeper than this one trip. Elena claims that the activist known as "Che" was dealing social change both before and after his famous trip. This document suggest that to fully understand the true inspiration for "Che" one must look at his life from a much wider scope, while taking into account the daily challenges facing the continent of South America.
Overall the film “The Motorcycle Diaries” does a good job of telling the story of the trip which exposed Ernesto Guevara to the troubles of his people. To understand the motives of political activist can often be troublesome because many times their stories can be twisted to conform to the views of the story teller. By relying on the journals which “Che” kept we have a very clear perspective on what he believed was right and wrong. I feel very fortunate to have heard the story of “Che” because his story is very inspiring. He strongly wanted to change what he saw as wrong, and was not afraid to speak out about it.
