Film depicts Guevara's journey

Che. This is the name belonging to the intrepid face that is painted on many T-shirts across college campuses - the man who, alongside Fidel Castro, was a leader in the Cuban revolution. Those who wear these shirts are often unaware of who he really was, or if they do have an idea, they only know him as the Argentinean who proclaimed hatred as the key to revolution and was executed by a Bolivian firing squad in 1967. But long before the horrible wars and economic downfalls of South America in the '60s, there was a young medical student named Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, better known as "Fuser." In Walter Salles' new film, "The Motorcycle Diaries," the story of Guevara's (Gael Garcia Bernal) 5,000-mile trip from Buenos Aires to Peru with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) is retold by the young Che himself. Salles relies solely on the written accounts from Guevara and Granado's diaries, which were first published in 1993. The story is simple enough as the two friends set out on a motorcycle, hoping to learn about a continent they barely know and perhaps find love - or, at the least, sex - along the way. It's hard to imagine that the smooth-faced, asthmatic 23-year-old young man that left Buenos Aires in the spring of 1952 would become one of the most well-known political martyrs in history, but Guevara sets aside his aspirations of becoming a doctor and climbs on the motorcycle of a 29-year-old biochemist, Granado, never to be the same person. The first stop is at the home of Guevara's girlfriend, Chichina (Mia Maestro), whose rich family has a strong dislike for Guevara. These scenes allow the audience to realize the simplicity of the young revolutionary, before he turns toward his political goals. At first, the film seems to be driven solely by the mishaps and interesting encounters of the two men. Yet, Salles does an amazing job of using Guevara's encounters with not only the people but the land itself to implicitly display the change in ideals and emotions of the young Che. And even though Salles doesn't overtly reveal the change in Guevara's mindset, it is not difficult to see how easily Guevara's harmless defiance of an overbearing nun could grow into brutish political activism. The most intriguing scenes of the film are during Guevara and Granado's stay at the leper colony. Guevara's demeanor toward the patients is heartfelt, and his triumphant swim across the river to the colony could be considered symbolic of the leaving behind of "Fuser" for "Che." Bernal, who rose to the ranks of up-and-coming actors after his performance in "Y Tu Mama Tambien," gives a passionate performance, and with his good looks and obvious talent in tow, it's safe to say he's well on his way to becoming a strong force in the film industry. In the film's closing voice-over, Guevara questions whether his assumptions of the world were too rigid, and his answer is "maybe." This seems to be an oversimplification by Guevera concerning his own convictions, yet, much like Salles' film, the answer is evidence of Che's humanity. Grade: A