The Motorcycle Diariese by Ernesto Guevara (p. 1 - 59)

Summary
         The Diary Starts out by introducing the protagonist named Ernesto Guevara who is later known in history as Che. Ernesto is a medical student and his best friend named Alberto is a Biochemist who worked at a Leper Colony in Fransisco Del Char. Ernesto and Alberto are both from Argentina, and thought of the idea to explore North America by improvising. They plan on going on a motorcycle named " La Poderosa" meaning the powerful. They take with them there necessities, and a dog named comeback who is a gift for Chinchina, Ernesto's girlfriend. They begin there travels and stop in a town named Miramar to give Comeback to Chinchina, in return she gives him a gold bracelet to symbolize there love. They travel through sand dunes in Medanos, Argentina, and they fall off the motorcycle constantly. Dr. Choele Choel receives them when Ernesto gets the Flu and he recuperates. They brake there headlights, therefore at night have to travel with a torch on the road and suffer of hunger and thirst. They feel uncomfortable when they encounter Araucanian people who hold grudges against white people in Argentina, it becomes unbelievable for a doctor to appear famished and poorly dressed to ask for a food or a place to stay. They arrive at San Marting De Los Andes, where they are forced to sleep in a national park shed, where they agreed with the man who lives there to work as hot Dog workers in order to get meat for the trip. While being on the job, Ernesto gets drunk of the wine they were selling and after take the left over materials they didn't sell as pay. When Ernesto and Alberto wake up, there drinks are gone, they were broke, but feel encouraged that they are well fed. They meet some of Alberto's friends who pick them up and take them to Junin de los Andes. After, they go hiking and catch a duck at night and eat it, they get paid and head off. Ernesto writes a letter to his mother mentioning his experiences. they arrive at a mans house who agrees to let them stay and fix there motorcycle, and he warns them of the puma's around the area, at night Ernesto with fear shoots at the family dog thinking its a puma and they get kicked out. They a ferry to cross a lake through Chile, and they lecture other Doctors of Leprosy, and converse about the issue. Correo de Valvida newspaper writes and article of them and there mission to study Leprosy across the Americas. They notice the Indigenous Chileans and Anglo Saxon immigrants great separation, which is not a huge issue in they were used to in there community. A man named Raul gives them a place to sleep in Temuco, Chile and they are given much respect in the town for being leprosy explorers.

Quote
"In nine months of a man's life he can think a lot of things, from the loftiest meditations on philosophy to the most desperate longing for a bowl of soup - in total accord with he state of his stomach. And if , at the same time, he's somewhat of an adventurer he might live through episodes of interest to other people and his haphazard record night read something like these notes."

Reaction
  My reaction to this quotation was that I had to read it over for about three times. Then I understood that the Ernesto comes out of the reading, using dual-voice narrator, using his voice after his journey through Latin America. He explains his guess for why the reader may be reading his diary, he indirectly comes out as a older voice using a second person point of view, which is common. He uses sophisticated vocabulary, but it is a bit confusing, maybe because of me not being used to reading such type of writing, or because of the fact this book is translated from Spanish to English. Without doubt, his writing is quite deep.

Reaction to Review of the film "The Motorcycle Diaries"

      My reaction to the review was a deeper understanding of the movie or clarification on my thoughts about it. The review explains what the movie captures, "What "The Motorcycle Diaries" captures, with startling clarity and delicacy, is the quickening of Ernesto's youthful idealism, and the gradual turning of his passionate, literary nature toward an as yet unspecified form of radical commitment" (Scott).The review speaks of an idealism that I also saw, which was a denial of the type of government the character Che encounters, the type of idealism was not specified. The best connection the review makes is to the world and is completely true, that "The love it chronicles is no less profound — and no less stirring to the senses — for taking place not between two people but between a person and a continent...In an age of mass tourism, it also unabashedly revives the venerable, romantic notion that travel can enlarge the soul, and even change the world"(Scott). The movie shows Che's nostalgia for the world and people he didn't even know, he bonded everywhere and demonstrated a unconditional love for the world and the people inside of it. What shocked me completely of the whole review was the following "Mr. Salles risks being accused of idealizing his subject. It's a fair charge, but one that misses the director's fidelity to his literary sources. Guevara's diaries, discovered in a knapsack long after his death, were published in 1993, and much of their appeal lies in the sense of immediacy they convey. Their author did not know who he would become, even as the notebooks themselves dramatize a crucial stage in his development" (Scott). It is very real that the Director Mr. Salles could of been idealizing Che, but I agree with Mr. Salles, Che was a inspirational figure and so was his story, so why not idealize him? Scott doesn't disagree either but suggests that they make him sound too good, even before he becomes huge in history. Well, that's fair but I didn't know before seeing the movie that he was a Cuban revolutionary and I still think Mr. Guevara is a hero for his experience and learning.


 Scott, A.O. "On the Road with Young Che." The New York Times. 24 Sept. 2004. 12 Jan. 2011 <http://movies.nytimes.com/2004/09/24/movies/24MOTO.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20motorcycle%20diaries&st=cse>.

The Motorcycle Diaries Movie Reaction

   The movie "The Motorcycle Diaries" based on the book by Ernesto Guevara was amazing. The movie portrays the story of two young men, one named Ernesto who is a medical student and the other is a Biochemist named Alberto. Both decide to go on a journey around South America, form Argentina to Venezuela. The movie shows all the dreadful truths of the way people live everywhere. My reaction to Che's encounters with people, were like Ernesto's because it took me a while to understand how sad some of the characters lives are. Especially, in one seen where Ernesto and Alberto encounter a couple who got kicked out of there land for there political view points. Living here in America, somebody who would hear that here wouldn't really care because of the liberal life style, and it's almost impossible to understand that somebody could lose there home over a opinion. Besides the extraordinary story, the film was shot very well and used constant methods of shooting. There were always over the shoulder shots, even when Che was leaving his family in Argentina, to emphasize the caring they all had for each other. The film also uses these types of shots to show the gratitude and the relationship between the leprosy patients and Ernesto. My reaction to when Ernesto didn't wear gloves and acted kind to the patients, was shocking because people had been neglecting people who had leprosy even before biblical times.
    The setting is established, through most establishing shots, especially at the beginning of the film, where many mountains are shown, track shots from the motorcycle out to the whole scene occurs. Also, guitar folk type music plays to establish a calm setting. The movie also takes some time to show the citizens who are being affected by poverty and places them standing still in a black and white shot. This is to allow the viewer to recognize all the victims that are affected by poverty. Lastly, the scene were he crosses the river at night time has low-key lighting to emphasize a dramatic moment and the danger Che has, but has back lighting to give Che a more heroic feel. Overall, the movie was inspiring and a learning experience.