"Motorcycle Diaries": the myth of Che Guevara in the twenty-first century

Author(s): Fernanda Bueno

Source: Confluencia, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Fall 2007), pp. 107-114
Published by: University of Northern Colorado
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27923257
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Motorcycle Diaries: the myth of Che Guevara in the
twenty-first century

University of Texas at Austin

Walter Salles builds a new dimension to the myth of Ernesto Che Guevara with the film
"Motorcycle Diaries" (2004). The director stated in several interviews that he did not want
to make a political film on the story of Che Guevara, that his film focuses on an adolescent
rite of passage to adulthood, in an attempt "to both humanize Guevara and give an
indication of his gradual political maturation" (qtd. in Porton 19). It is beside the point to
argue the complete success Salles achieved in his endeavor: "Motorcycle Diaries" received
over thirty nominations and awards. Young and old alike acclaimed the film. It is frequently
adopted for classroom use and what is noticed by students and anyone who sees the film is
the humanity of the character and his political maturation process. "Storicizing" history, the
film is based on a careful reading of Guevaras diaries and several biographies, especially the
one by Pablo Ignacio Taibo II (Porton 19). Moreover, Alberto Granado, Guevaras
companion on the trip, gave his personal assistance to Jos? Rivera in writing the screenplay
(Porton 19). The film is an original project of its executive producer, Robert Redford, who
invited Salles to direct the film. Like most of the feature films today, "Motorcycle Diaries"
is a co-production of many countries and directed to a global audience.
Likewise, the myth of Che Guevara is connected worldwide to the memory of the
triumph of the Cuban Revolution and the African wars of Independence. He is also
remembered by his death plotted by the CIA while fighting for the Bolivian revolution,
which makes him a liberator and a martyr in our imagination. Being perceived as a Christ
like figure or of someone who died for the liberation of the oppressed, the romantic hero
Che Guevara still today embodies the myth of rebellion, of resistance. The mid twentieth
century, the sixties especially, refers to a mythical period for the liberation of the oppressed
and is deeply connected in our memory to the icon of Che Guevara wearing his beret, as
Kodas picture was immortalized in the T-shirt image.
The general public has scant knowledge about the historical aspects of the
revolutionary's life and philosophy of liberation. In his article "The Real Che," Anthony
Daniels argues that the myth of Che Guevara is kept alive by the strong commercialization
of souvenir goods stamped with his figure (23):

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 The film clearly intends to suggest that Guevara was a youthful idealist, and that
his idealism?so generous, so disarming?was the source of his later opinions
and activities, such as his liberal and open-handed signing of death sentences after
perfunctory trials, his support of regimes that had killed millions and scores of
millions.. .The film is thus the cinematic equivalent of the Che Guevara T-shirt;
it is morally monstrous and emotionally trivial. (26)

With such a harsh opinion Daniels goes on to convince the reader that the "real"
Che was indeed morally monstrous and probably emotionally unbalanced. Daniels fails to
perceive that the "Real Che" is as unrecoverable as all legendary myths. As Fredric Jameson
said, expanding the Althusserian thought, history is "inaccessible to us except in textual
form, and that our approach to it and to the Real itself necessarily passes through its prior
textualization, its narrativization in the political unconscious" (35). Therefore, the actions
of Ernesto Che Guevara may be recorded, taught, and discussed, but his legend s place in
social memory survives beyond the mans actions and facts, whether they are heroic or
atrocious. Ernesto Che Guevara belongs today to the realm of imagination. The legendary
figure is subjected to "narrativization," becoming cultural products as a T-shirt, a movie, a
novel, and an aspiration of our collective unconscious.
The narrative of "Motorcycle Diaries" assumes and explores this signification. As
Roland Barthes explains in "Myth Today," mythical language empties the signifieds of the
first semiological system, keeping its meaning but impoverishing it. Mythologies are not
lies, they are formed as a distortion of a previous signification, they are a new situation,
they bring up different concepts. "The meaning is already complete, it postulates a kind
of knowledge, a past, a memory, a comparative order of facts, ideas, decisions" (117). For
this reason, our knowledge of the fact that Ernesto is the revolutionary we all know is taken
as the empty signified to be combined forming new concepts. Moreover, the artistic
organization of images in the narrative will definitely contribute to the mythological form
of the film: myth is defined not by its content but by the form the message is uttered (109).
We must also consider that a myth evolves from history. Today, the film "Motorcycle
Diaries" updates our imagination on the figure of a revolutionary, stimulating acceptance
in spite of making popular Che s sayings such as "let the world change you ... and you can
change the world." In our age of terrorism attacks and the "war on terror," the last known
figure of a "guerrillero," one who fights for the liberation of the oppressed, is
Subcomandante Marcos, who has achieved some political change in a small localized
region of M?xico, combining the use of the media and politics with weapons. Therefore,
today we long more for protection against change, against attacks, than feel the impetus of
changing the world by caring a firing gun. One instance which proves the historical
evolution of a mythical signified, is the fact that today, in order to feel protected against
terrorist attacks, society relies on the same organizations that plotted the fall of Che
Guevara; hence, what was then perceived as an assassination, today, with the "terrorists,"
their fall by the same plots are celebrated as just punishment.
Drawing comparisons to other films by Walter Salles and discussing three main
sequences of "Motorcycle Diaries," I intend to pose a possible answer to the question
Barthes raises in his article: "How do [we] receive [Che Guevaras myth] todayT (129). I

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want further to suggest that in our age of fear of terrorism, Salles sends a message of
conformity through the myth of the romantic hero Che Guevara, placing his aspirations
of achieving a more equal and just society in a distant past.
Walter Salles s filmography is already extensive and well-known. His two previous
features, "Central Station" (1998) and "Broken April" (2000) also present inner discoveries
of the protagonist during a journey guided by a supportive character, which is inserted in
the long literary tradition of Virgile guiding Dante and Sancho Panza following Don
Quijote. Brilliantly acted by Fernanda Montenegro, the protagonist Dora of "Central
Station" is a picara at the beginning of the film. Doras humanity develops during a scenic
trip across the backlands of Brasil, in her interaction with the environment, its people and
Josu?, her guide through the "inferno" of her life. Her moment of transformation is well
marked by the poignant scene of the religious procession at the climax of the film. In
interviews Salles described this film as a "parable of hope." Thus, the argument of "Central
Station" follows the classic structure of a bildungsroman.
"Broken April" and "Motorcycle Diaries" are atypical bildungsroman because the
heroes' personalities do not change significantly in the process. In the development of the
narrative, Tonho and Ernestos personalities are a seminal factor in becoming the
revolutionaries they will be. The development of these protagonists is to show how they
will affect their world. Tonho, the older brother of "Broken April," breaks a centuries-old
family tradition of fighting for their land by killing the oldest son of the other family or
dying. In his journey, encouraged by his young brother Menino, Tonho discovers the love
of Clara and another life beyond the land he should protect to death.
Furthermore, the structure of Salles s narratives are similar in the way he creates new
mythologies. For the Brazilian sertao, the environment of "Central Station" and "Broken
April," the director crafts a land of honorable people striving for progress through
respectable poverty; which is quite a different image from the one constructed by Glauber
Rocha and N?lson Pereira dos Santos, the revolutionary filmmakers of the sixties. They
created a sert?o of inexorable misery, which is closer to our reality half of a century later.
Nonetheless, as Lucia Nagib points out, the contrasting views do not represent a "value
judgment" of the films of the sixties or Salless films. The fact that Salles builds a sert?o
which is "a source of healing for a nation in need ... [and Glauber builds a sert?o which
is] the most obvious expression of social divisions ... simply represent different ways of
coming to terms with the realities of Brazil... Some hope for revolution, others for reform
... in different times" (153).
In this way, "Motorcycle Diaries" presents successful strategies of the style Salles
developed in previous films: they are road movies with spectacular photography (Eric
Granier for "Motorcycle Diaries"); which makes nature another major element in the
?criture of the narrative. For instance, the magnificence of the Peruvian Andes sets the stage
for Ernesto's encounter with the peasants, giving the scenes the eloquence of a religious
confessional rite. Another strategy is the choice of acclaimed actors that perform their
characters with excellence, who expand the meaning of their representations. In particular,
both protagonists of "Motorcycle Diaries" and "Broken April," Gael Bernal (Ernesto) and
Rodrigo Santoro (Tonho), are able to speak eloquently in their silence through their eyes
and measured gestures. Salles declared that he was "mesmerized" by the way Gael Bernal

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 interiorized his feelings in acting "Amores Perros" (Mexico 2000), this being one of the
reasons why he chose Bernal for the role of Ernesto: "[he] was an actor who had the vitality
of a 20-year-old as well as the maturity of a much older man" (qtd. in Porton 18).
The character Ernesto shares some contrasting characteristics with Tonho, the
character of "Broken April." Both are revolutionaries, they both present their love,
compassion and openness to the Other, they both want to learn about the world around
them and make changes in their environment. While Tonho s personality is built upon
idealism: non-violence, laughter, innocence and love of a woman; Ernesto s personality in
the film is built upon his weaknesses. He is chronically ill, his girlfriend leaves him, he has
poor social skills. The only people Ernesto relates to well are the underdogs he encounters
enroute. The scenes that show the turning point of Tonho and Ernestos consciousness are
contrasting as well. Tonho s perception of his own reality changes in an upward movement:
he and Clara discover their love when the girl flies in the sky while supported by the rope
he holds as the movie theater is filled with the sound of their laughter. In a similar later
scene, pushed by Menino, Tonho swings high extracting some laughter even out of his
grouchy fathers mouth. Thus, in "Broken April," the sky is the limit for Tonho s
aspirations. On the other hand, Ernesto is brought to a consciousness of himself through
the break-up letter from his girlfriend Chichina (M?a Maestro). The protagonists feelings
are shown in a downward movement, on a darkened screen, helped by the harsh sound of
the small elevator in which Ernesto and Alberto are squeezed in, descending to the beach
in Valparaiso. Ernesto is no longer an adolescent; the rupture leaves him open to a new
search for meaning in his life, which is fulfilled by the readings of Jos? Mari?tegui and
encountering enroute the plight of the indigenous people.
Considering film as poetic language that constructs significations, Salles uncovers
Che Guevaras path to revolution with powerful metaphors of images and sounds, which
make of the young Ernesto Guevara a hero out of his weaknesses. Another source of
building the protagonist s personality is to present Ernesto to the audience in contrast to
the character of Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna). As in other Salles s movies, the
circumspection of the protagonist is lightened up by the grandiose nature and the splendid
work of the supporting actors. According to Gaston Bachelard, poetic imagination is
executed when the poet is able to transform images unexpectedly:

Imagination is always considered to be the faculty of forming images. But it is

rather the faculty of deforming the images offered by perception, of freeing
ourselves from the immediate images; it is especially the faculty of changing
images. If there is not a changing of images, an unexpected union of images, there
is no imagination, no imaginative action. (19 italics in the original)

The poetic images constructed in the film are "formed" within the known and
reliable model of Hollywood beautiful images. From the small units of contrast between
the two protagonists through the combination of major segments, all is crafted in every
aspect of their realization: photography, screenplay, soundtrack. These images are
"naturalized," "deformed," by their changing of significance when combined in new
mythologies. The film develops in a crescendo of changing images which attain new

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significations forming today a new perception of Che Guevara and the life of Alberto
Granado. Bachelard s notion of "deforming" poetic images, "changing" and "unexpectedly
uniting" them is related to Barthes notion of mythologies. For Barthes, myth is a message,
it is "idea-in-form" (109-112),

myth is a second order semiological system. That which is a sign (namely the
associative total of a concept and an image) in the first system, becomes a mere
signifier in the second ... the final term of a first semiological chain [... which is]
reconstitute [d] in a chain of causes and effects, motives and intentions [giving us
the] mythical concept [which] is confused, made of yielding, shapeless
associations. (114-119 italics in the original)

Three major segments may be constructed as the main signifiers of the films
mythology. They are the ship voyage to the leper colony, their farewell at the colony, and
the epilogue at the airport in Venezuela. Likewise, all smaller units of the film also
construct new associations.
At the beginning of the narrative, the film delineates the respective roles of the
characters. Alberto acts as the older and wiser of the trip as Ernestos mother makes him
responsible for her sons health and security. He then becomes the "sexual ambassador of
Argentina," is able to find food and lodging for both, and dutifully takes care of Ernesto
when suffering asthma attacks. At the same time, Ernesto shows a naive approach to life,
for instance, by childishly protecting Chichinas money, being unable to properly seduce
the mechanic s wife and speaking bluntly to the man with a tumor. On these occasions,
Alberto, his guardian and protector, saves the day with his worldly skills. However, Ernesto
is the hero of the film; he is the one who manages to get published the newspaper article
which opens doors for both. The character of Alberto also functions as jester. The jester
figure comes to play as a counter balance of the hero. Alberto is constantly called fat and
old when he weights a few pounds more than the skinny Ernesto. In the film, both are in
their twenties, but Alberto is six years older. In addition, Ernesto physically displays the
beauty of a teenager, while Alberto displays a manly charm and manners. Both characters
are captivating in their own contrasting ways. In every scene their actions and presence on
the screen are complementary, pointing the audience s imagination to the construction of
the legendary Che Guevara. Ideologically the contrast between them is marked: the film
establishes more than once that Ernesto does not believe in a revolution without firing a
gun. On the other hand, it also establishes that Alberto is a good-hearted man who believes
in revolution through founding an indigenous party and reaching the ideal of a more equal
society through politics.
After setting up the character of the two protagonists the film proceeds to develop
its mythology in the three following sequences. First comes the sequence on the ship
during their voyage to the leper colony. It perfectly illustrates the contrastive figure played
by Alberto and gives emotional balance and ideological connotation to the movie. It also
sums up Ernesto Guevaras social consciousness. Just as Ernesto is profoundly moved by
the social differences of the people on the ship, the spectators must face the squalid people
packed on the small boat pulled by the nicer ship. The larger ship carries a casino and the

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wealthy who can afford to buy the services of a prostitute, who in turn has to share her
profits with the captain. Deep in his thoughts, Ernesto observes the people below and
recalls all the encounters along their route, which are the black and white stills we see. He
writes in his diary, suffers, and finally collapses in an asthma attack. Without the presence
of Alberto, this sequence could be described as a scene out of the cinema of the sixties,
when the audience was asked to acquire the consciousness of the hero. However, social
transformation is something that is not on the mind of the twenty-first century moviegoers
and the director skillfully deviates our attention to Alberto s quest. Will he be able to make
the money he needs to pay the prostitute? Alberto s lively character upholds the lightness
required for the film. He is seen walking up and down the boat, assisting his friend, flirting
with the girl, searching for money, and winning the money in the casino. As Alberto states,
he comes out as "the man with balls on the ship," not the thoughtful Ernesto. Alberto's
performance is posed in sharp contrast to the reflexive attitude assumed by the character
of Ernesto.
Within this sequence we can perceive the main techniques used in the film to build
its mythology. In alternate scenes, in the same enclosed space of the boat, first we see
Guevara and all the elements that form his ideals. The audience can relate to his ideals
because we all wish for a better society; this is one of the reasons which makes the T-shirt
so popular. Secondly, we identify ourselves easily with Alberto; like us, he is mundane, he
likes sex, money and adventure, plus, he is a good, caring man. The mythology of the film
is established when Alberto declares himself the toughest man around in the casino. At this
moment, a pale Ernesto is standing background to the right of the screen, while Alberto
occupies the center, speaking and looking at the other men in the casino and at us.
Secondly, the segment of their farewell of the leper colony presents the most
spectacular scenes in the film and is the grand finale of the story. Ernesto symbolically
crosses the river to celebrate his birthday with the patients. They are all on the banks of the
river, at first uncertain, but soon cheering Ernesto's exhausting crossing and receiving him
in their arms. Carried in the arms of the lepers, Ernesto poses himself as their savior, one
that would die for them, as the dangerous nocturnal swimming proved. The posture of his
body being held by the people resembles paintings of Christ being descended from the
Cross. While these scenes are in the dark of night, Alberto and Ernesto's departure from
the leper colony is at the break of dawn, when light is diffused in a dense fog and everyone
is surrounded by the deep vegetation of the forest and the river waters; all of which gives a
supernatural mood to the segment. When compared to Ernesto's small participation in the
casino scene, here Alberto significantly barely participates in the long emotive farewell
which takes place between Ernesto and every patient of the colony. This segment, in its
enormous humanity and expressiveness, reaffirms the mythic Che Guevara of our
imagination as the expression of our eternal unfulfilled desire for equal and just societies.
The final segment, which is presented with the credits of the film, can be placed in
sharp emotional contrast to the previous segment. One of the major differences is the use
of light. Contrasting it to the preceding diffuse light and natural scenario, this sequence is
in the hangar of an airport in mid-day light. The brightness of day offers no depth of
vision; the screen is all in one plane, punctuating the realness and bringing the story to our
present day.

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 The viewers previous knowledge of Guevara will be called upon in this final
sequence of the film, its epilogue, when Alberto, in a double signification, calls Ernesto
"Che" for the first time, instead of the usual nickname "Fuser." He says "Che" to mean
both the Argentine colloquial expression, as well as "El Che," from this point on we are
viewing the historical Che Guevara. As noted before, the character Ernesto of "Motorcycle
Diaries," is not revolutionary in the discours of the film, its representation. Nevertheless,
by counting on the spectators knowledge of the symbol; he is "El Che" on the level of
narration, which is not present in the chronological time of the narrative film, but in its
histoire. The two friends say farewell and Ernesto departs to Buenos Aires, where he will
decide his future. The further development of his life and death is acknowledged by a still
of text written in white over the dark screen. Finally, we see senior Alberto Granado, in our
time, observing the departure of a plane. Thus, the film ends by recalling us from fantasy
to our own reality. The film ends with the image of Alberto. He survived the revolution
and opened the first medical school in Cuba. Alberto is the one who today looks at us from
the screen, from a close-up of his aged face.
"Motorcycle Diaries" is a film directed to a global audience, produced and
distributed (Focus Features) by the USA. The release of the film in the US was
accompanied by merchandise gifts such as a Lonely Planet booklet divided in three parts:
Inspiration, Destination and Communication. In the first part, it brings information
about the filmmaking, the cast and an interview with the director. Destination is about the
countries they travel, giving specific recommendations for backpackers. The last part of the
booklet, Communication, presents some quotes from the movie and a Spanish-English
glossary for travelers. Thus, the film is a globally produced cultural artifact with a variety
of locations and professionals from diverse countries involved in its making. It also aims to
stimulate global consumerism. Through its beautiful images, foreign audiences get
acquainted with the vastly unexplored Andean landscape and are invited to a similar
tourist adventure, investing in further economical development. Making a region known
through film and television is not a new technique; for instance, the Brazilian soap operas
have long advertised tourism within their narratives. The film "Bossa Nova" (Brazil 2000)
is also a trilingual post-card of Rio de Janeiro, one among many films produced to export.
In his article "Globalization as Philosophical Issue," Fredric Jameson points to the
danger of the imposition of the "American Way of Life" through cultural artifacts not only
economically but ideologically in global markets. During 1998, the trends of the New
Latin American Cinema weren't so visible. Now we can evaluate it as a positive experience
in the sense that national industries survived on a co-production scale and gives visibility
to many directors like Walter Salles and Fernando Meirelles ("City of God" 2002), who
were invited to foreign productions, creating meaningful feature films. On the other hand,
Jameson could foresee the control of culture by the global mode of production. The
filmmakers of the sixties, with their "modernist" techniques, created an ability to imagine
different social alternatives:

This destruction of a national film production?and along with it, potentially,

that of a national or local culture as a whole?is what can be witnessed
everywhere now in the third and second worlds.... [independent filmmakers all

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 over the world could be seen to be guided by a certain modernism; but it is also
the death of the political, and an allegory of the end of the possibility of
imagining radically different social alternatives to this one we now live under. For
political film in the '60s and '70s still affirmed that possibility (as did modernism
in general, in a more complex way), by affirming that the discovery or invention
of radically new social relations and ways of living in the world. It is those
possibilities?filmic, formal, political, and social?that have disappeared as some
more definitive hegemony of the United States has seemed to emerge. (62)

As a mythology, "Motorcycle Diaries" realizes Jamesons admonition of the present

inability of rethinking the social struggles we confront today. Eloquently captivating the
audience and reworking the mythologies of the sixties, Walter Salles states a message of
political conformity and stimulates consumerism, reflecting the society of twenty-first
century.
Works Cited
"Amores Perros." Dir. Alejandro Gonz?lez I?arritu. Mexico: 2000.
Bachelard, Gaston. On Poetic Imagination and Reverie. Intr. and Trans. Colette Gaudin. Indianapolis: The
Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1971, 19.
Barthes, Roland. "Myth Today." Mythologies. New York: Noonday Press, 1972, 109-159.
"Bossa Nova." Dir. Bruno Barreto. Brazil: 2000.
"Broken April." Dir. Walter Salles. Brazil: 2000.
"Central Station." Dir. Walter Salles. Brazil: 1998.
"City of God." Dir. Fernando Meirelles. Brazil: 2002.
Daniels, Anthony. "The Real Che." New Criterion. Oct 2004 23( 2) 22-27.
Jameson, Fredric. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Social Symbolic Act. Ithaca: Cornell, 1981, 35.
-. "Globalization as Philosophical Issue." The Cultures of Globalization. Durham: Duke UP, 1998,
54-77.
"Motorcycle Diaries." Dir. Walter Salles. USA, Argentina, Peru, Chile, 2004.
Nagib, Lucia. "The Sertao in the Brazilian Imaginary." The New Brazilian Cinema. London: Tauris, 2003,
139-156.
Porton, Richard. "Road to Revolution." Film Journal International, Oct 1, 2004. Nov 04, 2004. <http://
v^ww.filmjournd.com/filmjournal/filmmakers/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=10n

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