The Motorcycle Diaries

The Motorcycle Diaries arrives as a biographical drama directed by Walter Salles, and its first strength is a clear sense of purpose. Gael García Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna give The Motorcycle Diaries a recognisable human centre before the larger mechanics take over. The central situation in The Motorcycle Diaries comes into focus without a long explanation: Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. Across its 2h 6m running time, Walter Salles keeps The Motorcycle Diaries assured without becoming rigid.

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Rather than summarise every event in The Motorcycle Diaries, it is enough to note how Ernesto Guevara places Serna under growing pressure. Gael García Bernal gives that tension a face, which stops The Motorcycle Diaries from becoming a mechanical sequence of developments. Ernesto 'Che' Guevara uses Che to widen the stakes of The Motorcycle Diaries without losing sight of the original problem. Where Alberto Granado becomes predictable, The Motorcycle Diaries recovers interest through the consequences surrounding it.

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What The Motorcycle Diaries has to say is rooted in the distance between a public legacy and the private person behind it. The experience of Gael García Bernal carries that question through The Motorcycle Diaries without reducing the character to an example. Alberto Granado helps The Motorcycle Diaries test the theme through consequence instead of explanation. When Walter Salles allows ambiguity to remain, The Motorcycle Diaries becomes more involving than a simple statement of intent.

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The Motorcycle Diaries demonstrates the value of performance led storytelling by making a technical decision feel inseparable from dramatic intention. For FilmFour, the production of The Motorcycle Diaries balances performance led storytelling with enough restraint to keep performances visible. The France roots of The Motorcycle Diaries lend useful character to period detail across the central locations. What makes the finish of The Motorcycle Diaries convincing is the willingness of its sound and image to step back when a quieter reaction matters more.

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The directorial personality of The Motorcycle Diaries comes from Walter Salles remaining assured without becoming rigid when the premise invites excess. Within The Motorcycle Diaries, Walter Salles repeatedly favours readable choices over attention seeking flourishes. That discipline explains why its polish rarely hides the personality underneath in The Motorcycle Diaries rather than appearing only in isolated scenes. Where The Motorcycle Diaries becomes less convincing, one or two themes receive more explanation than they need, and the loss of control is noticeable without becoming fatal.

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Performance is the clearest human asset in The Motorcycle Diaries, beginning with the committed centre provided by Gael García Bernal. Rodrigo de la Serna keeps The Motorcycle Diaries from settling into one emotional register by approaching the material from another angle. The presence of Mía Maestro gives the surrounding world of The Motorcycle Diaries additional texture without distracting from the main line. When Walter Salles holds on a reaction, The Motorcycle Diaries communicates more efficiently than another explanatory exchange could manage.

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Taken as a whole, The Motorcycle Diaries is an easy recommendation for viewers who enjoy biographies built around contradiction rather than worship. The Motorcycle Diaries leaves its strongest impression through performance led storytelling, the work of Gael García Bernal and a clear understanding of tone. The limitations around how one or two themes receive more explanation than they need should be acknowledged, but they do not erase what The Motorcycle Diaries does well. I would return to The Motorcycle Diaries for its personality and its willingness to connect genre pleasure with recognisable feeling.