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The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motocicleta) (2003)

tomatometer

84

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 154
Fresh: 129 | Rotten: 25

The Motorcycle Diaries is heartfelt and profound in its rendering of the formative experiences that turn Ernesto "Che" Guerva into a famous revolutionary.

84

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 6

The Motorcycle Diaries is heartfelt and profound in its rendering of the formative experiences that turn Ernesto "Che" Guerva into a famous revolutionary.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 65,141

My Rating

Movie Info

Brazilian director Walter Salles Jr. follows up the Golden Globe-nominated Behind the Sun with this filmed adaptation of Argentinian-born Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara's journals of the same name. The Motorcycle Diaries stars Gael García Bernal (Y Tu Mamá También, Amores Perros) as a young, pre-revolution Guevara, a 23-year-old medical student in 1952 traveling across South America on a motorcycle with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna), who co-wrote the source

R, 2 hr. 8 min.

Drama

Jose Rivera

Feb 15, 2005

$16.7M

Focus Features

Cast

All Critics (162) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (132) | Rotten (26) | DVD (31)

A marvelous road picture and boys-become-men adventure, full of the best kind of idealism.

October 15, 2004 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | Comment
Orlando Sentinel
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Well-acted, beautifully shot and broad and personal, The Motorcycle Diaries is nonetheless undermined in the end by a clunky search for meaning and depth that seems forced.

October 8, 2004 Comment
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Quietly exhilarating, soulful and sincerely romantic.

October 8, 2004 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's about the gradual wakening into awareness, the graduation from carefree youth to responsible adulthood.

October 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Comment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Whether you want to see The Motorcycle Diaries as entirely a personal story or as social and political allegory, it captures a far different and far more vulnerable Ernesto Guevara than the one we think we know.

October 6, 2004 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I think it is beautifully shot, and the chemistry between these two young actors is terrific.

October 4, 2004 Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Subtly political biopic won't interest most teens.

December 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Has a huge heart.

December 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

A thought-provoking film, grounded in breathtaking scenery and engaging performances.

September 27, 2006 Comment

For most of the viewers, regardless of their political beliefs, THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is a journey worth taking.

June 29, 2005 Full Review Source: Draxblog Movie Reviews | Comment

This is the kind of movie that a serious student of the art of filmmaking will relish.

April 17, 2005 Comment
Oscar Guy

In a time when so many 'biopics' are predictable love-fests, it's great to see a film that digs back into a famous person's youth and explains HOW he became so influential.

March 3, 2005 Full Review Source: DVD Clinic | Comment
DVD Clinic

The two leads are strong; but while the trip may have substantially moved the two travelers, the film doesn't move much until the last half-hour.

February 21, 2005 Full Review Source: Hollywood Report Card | Comment
Hollywood Report Card

As a movie, The Motorcycle Diaries is beautiful, with strong acting, breathtaking location cinematography and a vibrant story. As history, it is more dubious.

February 18, 2005 Comment

Endearing and heartening...

February 16, 2005 Full Review Source: Now Playing Magazine | Comment

The understated drama frequently takes a backseat to magnificent scenery, lusciously photographed by cinematographer Eric Gautier.

February 11, 2005 Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | Comment
Kalamazoo Gazette
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de Motocicleta)

The Motorcycle Diaries is a wonderful, heartfelt film about two Argentinians who decide to bike across South America from Buenos Aires, to Valpariso, and on to Machu Picchu and Caracas in Venezuela. Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna star in this beautifully photographed, profound film, but the film doesn't go

October 24, 2011
Raymond Wieser

Super Reviewer

I just watched this movie for the second time. I really like this movie. It doesn't hurt that Gael Bernal is a very good actor, also....but that was just icing on the cake. There was alot of thought put into this movie. It was serious at times, touching at times, and also very funny at times.

October 14, 2010
itsjustme2004

Super Reviewer

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Foreign Titles

  • Die Reise des jungen Che (DE)
  • Motorcycle Diaries (UK)
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