Diarios de Motocicleta

What a great film! I could not wait to see where their journey was going to take them. I guess I must live a very sheltered life because I had never heard of Ernesto Guevara until preparing for this class. I am glad that I had not though because I might have been watching with preconceived ideas about who he was instead of how he became that man.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. Ernesto was one semester away from becoming a doctor before he and Alberto set out on their 8,000 kilometer road trip across the South American continent. Who in their right mind does such a thing? It is because of this trip though that his life changes in a way that he can't even begin imagine. I even think it is ironic that they call their motorcycle "The Mighty One".
The first stop on the trip is the home of Fuser's girlfriend, Chichina. She lets him know that she will not wait forever for him. We later find out that she gave him $15 American dollars to buy her some fancy underwear, this money helps form him as a leader as we see later on.
During the trip we see that the two friends have very different personalities. Mial is willing to lie to get what he wants and Fuser is caring and honest. We see this when they come upon a house telling the owner that they are doctors on a trip and could use a place to sleep and some food. The owner asks them to look at a lump on his neck and Fuser tells him it is a tumor and needs to be checked. Mial on the other hand tells him that it only looks like a sebaceous cyst and will be just fine. Fuser is not willing to lie at the risk of someone else's life. I think that most leaders start out to be honest and caring.
Next we see how much he enjoys talking to people. This is demonstrated in the scene where the two are pushing "The Mighty One" into the market area of Chile. What political leader doesn't like to talk and meet with people. This is also the first time Mial tries to get Fuser to use Chichina's money to help them. They need money to get the bike fixed, for food, and a place to sleep. Fuser refuses. Fuser ends up having an article printed about them in the local paper which makes them celebrities and this gets them the help that they need. Most leaders are a in their own way a celebrity. We see his caring side when he goes and sees the sick women and tries to make her as comfortable as possible, he does not tell her that she is dying and that there nothing he can do for her.
By now "The Mighty One" has died and they are now walking and hitch hiking to travel. It is during a ride that they meet a couple going to the mines looking for work. They hear the story of how a big landowner took their land from them and how the police wanted to arrest them for being communist. Once at the mine, the husband was picked for work. Fuser yells to the foreman "can't you see that they are thirsty and need water". He is then threatened with being arrested for being on private property. We see how he is starting to care for the poor and less fortunate. All along their travel to Peru we see the poor and homeless and hear more stories on how others have had their land taken from them.
While they are traveling we are read the letters that Fuser has written to his mother. While the letters are being read to us we see the faces of the people they have met along the way and how they are forever etched in his mind.
The next leg of their journey has them on a five day boat trip where Fuser almost dies from an asthma attack and Mial begs him for the $15 so that he can spend the night with a lady of the night. He tries to get the money by reminding him of everything that they had go through together, crashes, the desert, and starvation. Fuser informs him that he no longer has the money, he gave it to the couple back at the mines. This show a selfless act putting others before himself. Another sign of the beginnings of a true leader.
The final leg of their journey has them ending up at a leper's colony. It is here that biggest transformation of his life occurs. His first act of defiance is seen, he refuses to wear gloves when coming in contact with the lepers. He also is able to convince a young women that even though she has leprosy life is still worth living. He also realizes the injustice of the lepers being isolated from the rest of the world. While they are at the colony, Fuser celebrates his 24th birthday. The doctors and staff throw him a birthday party combination going away party, he and Mial were leaving the next day. Fuser gave a toast at the party which can now be looked on as his first political speech. After he finished, giving no regard for his own life, he swam acrossed the river to spend the rest of his birthday and last night with the people he really cared about.
At the end of the journey and before the two friends go their separate ways, Ernesto tells Alberto that something in him has changed and that he no longer sees things in the sam way. The final scenes tell us that he did actually become a doctor and that he went on to join Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution. I guess you could truly call this the trip of a lifetime!