The Motorcycle Diaries is a film set in 1952 which followed 23 year-old Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (also called Fuser) who was on break before returning to his last semester of medical school and his friend Alberto Granado (nicknamed Mial) who was a 29 year-old biochemist. This film was based on the diaries of Guevara and provides an account of an 8,000 km motorcycle journey to see as much of the continent of South America in the few months before returning to complete college. The trip would be an adventure that would help to buffer their integration into a more serious life with jobs and other responsibilities upon their return. The film opened with the two men saying good bye to their families in their home city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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He observed how the powerful Amazon River divided this Peruvian society so that the healthy people lived on the north side of the river and the people with leprosy were sequestered on the south side. As their time volunteering at the leper colony was nearing an end, Ernesto attended a birthday celebration which was given in his honor on the north side of the river. While attending the party, Ernesto suddenly had a desire to swim across the river that separated these two societies in an effort to display his allegiance to the lepers. Although it meant risking his life due to vulnerabilities such as his asthma and the strong pull of the tide; this action represented Ernesto’s decision to discard the wealth and upper social class that he had been born into and to commence the battle for human …show more content…
I am not me anymore. At least I'm not the same me I was”. The two men gradually became aware that their identities had transformed as a consequence of contacting, interacting, and listening to the stories of the indigenous people. The narrative of this journey evolved as a chronicle of two free-spirited adventurers into a life changing odyssey with revelations of the social injustices of oppressed mine workers, the persecution of communists, the segregation of people with leprosy, and the socioeconomic struggles of Incan descendants. They accomplished their goal to really see South America and a new goal emerged to see a united Latin America. The film revealed that over the course of their travels across South America, Ernesto and Alberto shared the experience of a political awakening and development of a social conscience that lead to more complex discoveries such as barriers of race, class, culture, employment, economics and health that they considered to be oppressive and inhumane; yet each man would follow his own unique path to address these issues in their
He observed how the powerful Amazon River divided this Peruvian society so that the healthy people lived on the north side of the river and the people with leprosy were sequestered on the south side. As their time volunteering at the leper colony was nearing an end, Ernesto attended a birthday celebration which was given in his honor on the north side of the river. While attending the party, Ernesto suddenly had a desire to swim across the river that separated these two societies in an effort to display his allegiance to the lepers. Although it meant risking his life due to vulnerabilities such as his asthma and the strong pull of the tide; this action represented Ernesto’s decision to discard the wealth and upper social class that he had been born into and to commence the battle for human …show more content…
I am not me anymore. At least I'm not the same me I was”. The two men gradually became aware that their identities had transformed as a consequence of contacting, interacting, and listening to the stories of the indigenous people. The narrative of this journey evolved as a chronicle of two free-spirited adventurers into a life changing odyssey with revelations of the social injustices of oppressed mine workers, the persecution of communists, the segregation of people with leprosy, and the socioeconomic struggles of Incan descendants. They accomplished their goal to really see South America and a new goal emerged to see a united Latin America. The film revealed that over the course of their travels across South America, Ernesto and Alberto shared the experience of a political awakening and development of a social conscience that lead to more complex discoveries such as barriers of race, class, culture, employment, economics and health that they considered to be oppressive and inhumane; yet each man would follow his own unique path to address these issues in their