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Motorcycle Diaries, The
Focus Features


7.8

based on 37 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 67 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language

Starring Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mía Maestro, Mercedes Morán, Jorge Chiarella, Susana Lanteri, Jean Pierre Noher, and Gustavo Pastorini

This film follows an inspiring journey of self-discovery and traces the youthful origins of a revolutionary heart, Che Guevara. (Focus Features)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jose Rivera Ché Guevara (book Notas de viaje) Alberto Granado (book Con el Che por America Latina)
DIRECTED BY:	Walter Salles
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 15, 2005 Video: February 15, 2005 Theatrical: September 24, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	128 minutes, B/W / Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Germany / UK / Argentina
LANGUAGE(S):	Spanish (with English subtitles)

Original title "Diarios de Motocicleta"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

One thing few will disagree on is the quality of the film's acting, especially by Gael García Bernal as Guevara and Rodrigo de la Serna as his friend. Both effortlessly embody the footloose, sometimes feckless quality of this "On the Road"-style adventure.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

A gorgeous, poetic and stirring epic.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

A superb film.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The result is a rare and precious work. The Motorcycle Diaries is an epic road movie with everything you'd want from such a film: laughs, kicks, adventures, pathos, poetry, natural beauty, strange encounters and friendship tested and strengthened.

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Lovely, heartfelt and unforced.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Provides a smart, insightful prologue to the career of the man who continues to inspire countless people around the world.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Mr. Bernal's soulful, magnetic performance notwithstanding, the real star of the film is South America itself, revealed in the cinematographer Eric Gautier's misty green images as a land of jarring and enigmatic beauty.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Soulful and reflective film, as gentle as it is potent.

USA Today Claudia Puig

More coming-of-age story than biopic, this Guevara odyssey is a transformative adventure well worth watching.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A mesmerizing look at an asthmatic, rich-boy medical student in the act of discovering his insurgent spirit.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Salles' movie isn't fiery or didactic. It doesn't rage or storm. Salles romanticizes the youthful Ernesto.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A steady, soulful film experience. It's got poetry to it - the poetry of humanity.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Captures the lovely, heart-and-eye-opening ode to youthful possibility with affection and compassion.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

The movie's not heavyhanded about this coming of moral age; the revelations unfurl in subtle ways. What Bernal and this well-wrought movie convey so well is the charisma that would soon become a part of human history.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

There is a balancing act at work here that sometimes makes the film seem too careful, but I found it a lovely and supremely moving experience, a haunting symphony in a minor key if not a knock-your-socks-off masterpiece.

Variety Todd McCarthy

This intelligently made picture is artful but not arty, political without being didactic.

Film Threat Don R. Lewis

Subtle, funny and touching. It’s not like a blow-by-blow “Birth of a Hero” type of film. The script is near perfect and the acting is spot on.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The film is a deeply felt and beautifully acted hagiography.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A convincing, entertaining portrait of the revolutionist as a young man.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Nothing like a full picture of Che--nor of Granado and his eventual scientific career in Cuba, for that matter. But it exhilarates with the spirit of these young men in Act One of their lives.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

There is no great story being told here. Mostly, it is a conventional road movie - a buddy comedy even - about the quests of two likable guys. The memoirs exist only because of Guevara's subsequent fame as a revolutionary leader in Cuba, Congo and Bolivia.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Some might not even notice what's going on when director Walter Salles finally shows his hand, and ends the film with documentary footage of the real-life Granado, now aged 81, romping in the earthly paradise that is present-day Cuba.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Captures some of the spirit of the real Che.

Newsweek David Ansen

It's a picturesque tale that, hobbled by its episodic structure, never achieves full steam.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Surprisingly effective re-creation of a Latin American Bing and Bob on the Road to History.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The film works best when it doesn't try so hard, when Salles simply allows his excellent actors and his beautiful images to work their magic.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Handsomely shot by Brazilian director Walter Salles and beautifully played by the two leads, The Motorcycle Diaries would amount to little more than a minor, softly politically conscious coming-of-age story, if not for its historical context.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

A smartly scoped story of great personal growth and transformation. It's not hard to see the personality/political basis for Che's later revolutionary actions.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

"Dr. Goodlove," or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Proletariat" might have been a better title for this ingratiatingly loopy origin story about prerevolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

For a movie, this feels inadequate, despite its splendors and, later, its social dismay. It does, however, have the makings of a grand postcard.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Seen simply as a film, The Motorcycle Diaries is attenuated and tedious. We understand that Ernesto and Alberto are friends, but that's about all we find out about them; they develop none of the complexities of other on-the-road couples, like Thelma and Louise, Bonnie and Clyde or Huck and Jim. There isn't much chemistry.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Lovely to look at but insipid.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Glazed over by its worship of Che Guevara.

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

A gorgeously burnished vintage post card come to life, Motorcycle Diaries has about as much depth and emotional currency as the cardboard that post card would be stamped on.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Much of the film glides past with a slightly purposeless elegance. Astounding landscapes rise and fall away; enticing women glance and dance and disappear.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's much easier to linger on his youthful idealism than on how that idealism eventually manifested itself. It certainly makes for a much prettier picture. But when your subject is Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara, it is disingenuous.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

It never conjures up any coherent drama of its own, focusing instead on the historical destiny of Bernal's beefcake messiah.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 67 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Albert gave it a6:
Just a correct road movie, with beautiful photography and good acting. Unfortunately it lacks a litle bit more depth. Guevara's moral coming of age is determined by too few episodes. "How much unjustice", he claims when he's about to return to Argentina. And anyone who knows South America, and anyone who has read his diaries, knows he met quite a lot more reasons to become conscious about what was/is happening in the continent. Anyway. I would like to make just one coment to a couple of the site users : I don't know what you are taught in your History classes in the USA, but to consider Che Guevara a mass murderer reveals either an absolute abscence of knowledge on the subject, or an absolute abscence of knowledge of the english language.

Ajith F. gave it a9:
The moie is so touching an realistic.....the way they have shown an innocent boy become a revolutionary is sooo well directed......an excellent movie.

Sam X. gave it a9:
Stunning visual style and reminiscient of Jack Kerouac on the road. Those who rate this film poorly are probably just critics of el Che, and their opinions of the man and legend is reflected in the scores, rather than the content of the film itself.

Fazil M. gave it a10:
Possibly Gael Garcia's best performance till date. The film is seamless and very heartening at times. Also to be praised is Gustavo Santaolalla's impeccable compositions for the move.

Eduardo A. gave it a10:
(Sorry if my english is bad). It is simply the best movie I've ever seen, i always admired "Che" Guevara because of his intelligence and his principles, his vision, the way that he matured, until becoming the most unselfish being in the world, and I think this movie reflects all that, and it does in a way that only non-commercial director's and these kind of actors (famous in south america) can.

Stephen S. gave it a10:
Combine beautiful photography and powerful, natural acting with terrific writing, and you have Motorcycle Diaries. For those who criticize the movie as creating a false portrait of a man who would later advocate violent revolution, have they so little imagination that they are unable to comprehend how a young person who goes off to discover the world could legitimately grow from a sheltered son of privilege into a revolutionary, given the conditions of the world? One's politics are generally formed by your life experiences, and for most U.S. citizens, their experience is standardized television/mall living, with few ever traveling out of their racial ghetto, much less out of the U.S. Whatever else a viewer might get from the film, would that it might be an interest in making his or her own journey of discovery--to places that no one in the family has ever visited. Go for six months. See if you, like Ernesto/Che aren't changed. Things don't happen for no reason at all, my fellow citizens.

Mathew gave it a10:
I admit it. I am biased. Almost thirty years ago I spent several years working in South America, a quarter century after Ché blew through those same places. This movie gets so many of the small things about the cultures perfectly correct that it comes as no surprise that non-actors were used in these scenes. It is as if you are making the road trip too and that is, indeed, the strength of this movie. The quiet comraderie of the two principles is inviting. Their journey is quixotic, amusing, romantic and not a little foolhardy, but you'd die to be doing it, too! Critics have claimed that by failing to tackle the reality of Ché's future the film does a disservice to the realities of his past. I would say that the film shows the blank slate of youth filling with experiential awareness and hinting at how those experiences might mix with the character's inherent tendencies. The future is not yet known, but the possibilities are being outlined. I think that it is done very, very well.

Motorcycle Diaries, The Focus Features

Motorcycle Diaries, The
Focus Features