Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The Motorcycle Diaries 7/10
Talk about contentious ratings! :-)
I went to see The Motorcycle Diaries on Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice movie, but I don't rate it as highly as the others in the group. I thought the script was a little ... wishy-washy (that's the official scientific term). I didn't see the evolution of Ernesto Guevara into the firebrand that he became in the 50's. The movie meandered from one encounter to another, not really solidifying the experiences of one or its effect on subsequent ones. In other words, the movie was like a collection of patchwork stories.
This was probably a result of making an adaptation from a book. However, books are able to parcel these little chapters and present a unified whole. This movie couldn't.
The other gripe I had was that the movie was a bit too long - I think about 15 minutes should've been lopped off. Some chapters didn't really add much to the movie (like the Chilean mechanic and his wife at the dance).
I appreciate the casting - Gael García Bernal as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Rodrigo De la Serna as Alberto Granado - who really carried off the movie. The former looked eeirily like the real Che Guevrea (or at least, the photos I've seen of him!). Alberto Granado, according to Wikipedia (see link below) was a bit of a revolutionary himself ... but turned out to be a comic foil in the movie. Movie adaptation license at play?
Nice movie, funny in parts, but considering the subject material, I think a more serious and cohesive movie should've been made.
BTW, Wikipedia has a nice bio of Che Guevara here.
I went to see The Motorcycle Diaries on Saturday night. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice movie, but I don't rate it as highly as the others in the group. I thought the script was a little ... wishy-washy (that's the official scientific term). I didn't see the evolution of Ernesto Guevara into the firebrand that he became in the 50's. The movie meandered from one encounter to another, not really solidifying the experiences of one or its effect on subsequent ones. In other words, the movie was like a collection of patchwork stories.
This was probably a result of making an adaptation from a book. However, books are able to parcel these little chapters and present a unified whole. This movie couldn't.
The other gripe I had was that the movie was a bit too long - I think about 15 minutes should've been lopped off. Some chapters didn't really add much to the movie (like the Chilean mechanic and his wife at the dance).
I appreciate the casting - Gael García Bernal as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Rodrigo De la Serna as Alberto Granado - who really carried off the movie. The former looked eeirily like the real Che Guevrea (or at least, the photos I've seen of him!). Alberto Granado, according to Wikipedia (see link below) was a bit of a revolutionary himself ... but turned out to be a comic foil in the movie. Movie adaptation license at play?
Nice movie, funny in parts, but considering the subject material, I think a more serious and cohesive movie should've been made.
BTW, Wikipedia has a nice bio of Che Guevara here.
