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.