In 1952, Alberto Granado, a 29-year-old chemist, and his pal Ernesto Guevara, a 23-year-old medical student, set out from Buenos Aires to explore South America. Were it not for the fact that Ernesto went on to become Che,
political idol , revolutionary martyr and pillar of the T-shirt industry, their journey might have
vanished into private recollection .
Walter Salles's film, "The Motorcycle Diaries," based on Granado and Guevara's notebooks, is partly a political coming-of-age story in which Ernesto (Gael Garcia Bernal)
awakens to the injustice that plagues the continent. But the movie is also a rambunctious buddy picture, a breathtaking travelogue and an unusual love story. The love
in question is Ernesto's sensual and spiritual connection to the continent itself, which Eric Gautier's sublime cinematography
beautifully communicates .
Mr. Bernal's soulful performance is sure to enhance his reputation as one of the most magnetic young actors around, but the real stars of the movie are the rugged Chilean highlands, the peaks of the Andes and
the misty banks of the Peruvian Amazon.