The Motorcycle Diaries
The Motorcycle Diaries Image
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Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 37 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 77 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna
  • Summary: This film follows an inspiring journey of self-discovery and traces the youthful origins of a revolutionary heart, Che Guevara. (Focus Features)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    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.
  2. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    80
    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.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Don R. Lewis
    80
    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.
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jessica Winter
    60
    Lovely to look at but insipid.

See all 37 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 56
  3. Negative: 10 out of 56
  1. EduardoA.
    10
    (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.… Collapse
  2. FazilM.
    10
    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.… Expand
  3. StephenS.
    10
    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.… Expand
  4. tonyGreen
    7
    A road movie with a little more substance than most. The countryside is beautifully shot, and feels totally true to the period. Political without being moralising. Well worth a watch… Expand

See all 56 User Reviews

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