What is Motorcycle Diaries movie about?
Christopher Anderson
Published Mar 20, 2026
What is Motorcycle Diaries movie about?
On a break before his last semester of medical school, Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Gael García Bernal) travels with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) from Brazil to Peru by motorcycle. The two men soon witness the great disparities in South America, encountering poor peasants and observing the exploitation of labor by wealthy industrialists. When they reach a leper colony in Peru, Ernesto’s values have changed so much that he sides with the sufferers, forgetting his own comfort.
Diarios de motocicleta/Film synopsis
What is the message of The Motorcycle Diaries?
Medicine is often a mix of disillusionment and conflicting ideologies, misplaced respect and status, friendship and solidarity. These are values that surprisingly play a central theme in The Motorcycle Diaries, a film about a young Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado.
Is The Motorcycle Diaries a true story?
The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish: Diarios de motocicleta) is a 2004 biopic about the journey and written memoir of the 23-year-old Ernesto Guevara, who would several years later become internationally known as the iconic Marxist guerrila leader and revolutionary leader Che Guevara.
What was the plan in The Motorcycle Diaries?
He and his friend, Alberto Granado are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony.
How did Alberto and Ernesto meet?
It was in that city that he met Ernesto Guevara, an asthmatic teenager who was determined to play rugby with Mr. Granado’s team. They became close friends, sharing an intellectual curiosity, a mischievous sense of humor and a restive desire to explore their continent.
Was Che Guevara a good leader?
We would (have) given our life for him.” His commanding officer Fidel Castro described Guevara as intelligent, daring, and an exemplary leader who “had great moral authority over his troops”.
What does Ernesto do with the 15 dollars?
He gives her a puppy, named (in English) Come-back, to indicate that he intends to, well, come back. In the film, she gives him $15 to buy her a bathing suit when he reaches the United States. In real life, according to one of Che’s biographers, the money was for a scarf. Other than that, this is accurate.
What did Ernesto and Alberto realize throughout their journey in The Motorcycle Diaries?
In Caracas, Venezuela, Ernesto and Alberto finally separate. Although the trip has changed and inspired both of them, it changes them differently: Alberto begins to seriously consider a career as a leprologist, while Ernesto abandons the medical profession and begins to develop a Communist ideology.
Why is Ernesto called Fuser?
His rugby playing earned him the nickname “Fuser”—a contraction of El Furibundo (furious) and his mother’s surname, de la Serna—for his aggressive style of play.
What happened to Che Guevara’s girlfriend?
She fought alongside Marxist guerrillas under Che Guevara during the Bolivian Insurgency (1966–1967) where she was killed in an ambush by CIA-assisted Bolivian Army Rangers.
Was Che Guevara a freedom fighter?
Remembered as a romantic freedom fighter, an expert in guerrilla warfare, and a thoughtful philosopher who died young for his cause, Guevara has always been the revolutionaries’ revolutionary.
What did Ernesto Guevara do?
Che Guevara was a prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution who went on to become a guerrilla leader in South America. Executed by the Bolivian army in 1967, he has since been regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide.