Motorcycle Diaries
Dominique Spurlock
HIST 4371
February 7, 2011
Motorcycle Diaries
In the film “Motorcycle Diaries” the filmmaker does an excellent job of portraying Che (Fuser) Guevara’s way of thinking. Che was a very kind hearted man who did not think that he was better than others just because he was a year away from being a doctor. In 1951 Che decided to post-pone his medical degree to travel around South America with his friend Alberto “Mial” Granado. During this trip they made several stops. The first stop was in Argentina where he visited his girlfriend. Before Che leaves to continue their trip his girlfriend gives him ten American dollars to buy her a swimsuit if he reaches America. During the entire trip Mial comes up with many different ways to spend this money but Fuser refuses to do so. In Chile, Guevara found himself infuriated by the working conditions of the miners in Anaconda's Chuquicamata copper mine; and moved by his overnight encounter in the Atacama Desert with a mistreated communist couple who didn't even own a blanket. Upon seeing this Che offered them his blanket and gave them the ten dollars his girlfriend had given him for her swimsuit. Later when they were on their way to Peru Che had gotten sick and Mial wanted the money to get him some real medical treatment that’s when Che told Mial that he had given it to the communist couple. Furthermore, on the way to Machu Picchu high in the Andes, he was struck by the devastating poverty of the remote rural areas, where peasant farmers worked small plots of land owned by wealthy landlords. Che meet one of the peasant farmers who explained to Che and Mial that he was kicked off his employers land where the peasant farmer lived for no reason at all. The peasant farmer told Che that he and the other farmers had to work together so that they could have a way to support their families. Later on his journey, Guevara was especially impressed by the camaraderie among those living in a Leper Colony, stating, "The
HIST 4371
February 7, 2011
Motorcycle Diaries
In the film “Motorcycle Diaries” the filmmaker does an excellent job of portraying Che (Fuser) Guevara’s way of thinking. Che was a very kind hearted man who did not think that he was better than others just because he was a year away from being a doctor. In 1951 Che decided to post-pone his medical degree to travel around South America with his friend Alberto “Mial” Granado. During this trip they made several stops. The first stop was in Argentina where he visited his girlfriend. Before Che leaves to continue their trip his girlfriend gives him ten American dollars to buy her a swimsuit if he reaches America. During the entire trip Mial comes up with many different ways to spend this money but Fuser refuses to do so. In Chile, Guevara found himself infuriated by the working conditions of the miners in Anaconda's Chuquicamata copper mine; and moved by his overnight encounter in the Atacama Desert with a mistreated communist couple who didn't even own a blanket. Upon seeing this Che offered them his blanket and gave them the ten dollars his girlfriend had given him for her swimsuit. Later when they were on their way to Peru Che had gotten sick and Mial wanted the money to get him some real medical treatment that’s when Che told Mial that he had given it to the communist couple. Furthermore, on the way to Machu Picchu high in the Andes, he was struck by the devastating poverty of the remote rural areas, where peasant farmers worked small plots of land owned by wealthy landlords. Che meet one of the peasant farmers who explained to Che and Mial that he was kicked off his employers land where the peasant farmer lived for no reason at all. The peasant farmer told Che that he and the other farmers had to work together so that they could have a way to support their families. Later on his journey, Guevara was especially impressed by the camaraderie among those living in a Leper Colony, stating, "The