The Motorcyle Diaries (Salles, 2004): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.30pm
This is a 35mm screening and part of the Big Screen Classics strand at BFI Southbank.
Time Out review:
Walter Salles' exhilaratingly relaxed re-creation of the epic voyage that young
medical student Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) took around South America in
1952 together with the biochemist Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) is both a
light-touched examination of the kind of experiences that began turning
the former into 'Che', and - thanks to the way the film crew welcomed
the locals they encountered into the movie itself - a subtle reminder
that the social and political problems facing Latin Americans back then
are far from resolved. Often improvising along with his able and
extremely charismatic actors, Salles concentrates on character and
milieu rather than plot or 'message', so that even the duo's
life-changing stay in an Amazonian leper colony is mercifully bereft of
rhetoric and melodrama. Gautier's camera is adept at catching the
telling glance or gesture, while Gustavo Santaolalla's music contributes to the overall freshness of the approach. Very fine indeed. (Based on The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara and With Che Through Latin America by Alberto Granado.
Geoff Andrew
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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