che guevara's road trip

a couple of nights ago i watched the motorcycle diaries, directed by the brazilian filmmaker walter salles. it stars gael garcia bernal and rodrigo de la serna (as ernesto che guevara and his friend alberto granada respectively) as they travel across south america on a dying motorcycle.

the motorcycle reminded me of my grandfather's 1971 premier padmini, which in the early 1990s was possibly the slowest car in all of delhi.

the interesting thing about the original book is that it was written by che at a time when he himself had no inkling of the life he was to lead. his observations on the countryside, the women, and the poverty of latin america all reflect his phenomenal intelligence, his unexpected romanticism, and most of all, his naivete. it is not a coming-of-age document because he was yet to come of age.

however the movie forces a much quicker, and less effective, transition. at the beginning che is a charming young upper-middle class fellow in buenos aires. two hours later he is a christ-like figure hugging lepers in venezuela, eyes gleaming with revolutionary zeal. where is the anguish over his halitosis, the astonishment at those who wipe their bottoms with their clothes, the ecstacy on a moonlit night? the cinematographer eric gautier tries valiantly to infuse the film with dramatic tension (low camera angles, shaky closeups) but this is hard to do when the actual tension should come from us, the audience, knowing things about the protagonist's future that he does not.

but by the way, i did enjoy the movie. the two main characters were well cast and the landscapes were shot beautifully. despite the saccharine simplicity, salles' love for che guevara was evident throughout. and finally, it is reassuring that a film that glorifies a communist and accuses the CIA of murder can still pass the censor board and be screened at boston's most commercial movie theatre.

abbe oye!