Che: Part two

A straightforward telling of Ernesto Guevara's last year, from the last few days in Cuba, already in disguise as an OEA (OAS) bureaucrat, to his assassination in Bolivia. Nowhere as dramatic as Part one, almost a documentary, it lacks impact. Benicio del Toro does a masterful job of portraying el Che, but ... for the loyal base, this is a great film. Yet, even so, I thought it lesser than Part One. There was no mention of Congo, for instance.

Motorcycle Diaries

Watched it in honor, in remembrance, of Alberto Granado, who passed away on 6 March. Subtitled were hard-coded, as it were, and could not be hidden. In fact, they helped, for some of the Argentinian spoken was difficult to comprehend. A beautiful movie, very well done.

These days communism is out of favor, and it is disdained as a failed ideology that caused nothing but harm and destruction. Yet taking a fresh look at one who became a communist, and embodies romanticism and idealism in his iconic figure is a reminder that Ernesto Guevara became a communist as a result of seeing misery and exploitation in his native continent, and searching for a solution. Ché remains frozen in time, his face an icon that is used to sell beer as much as to represent a romantic longing.


Ernesto was an idealist, an adventurer, and a doctor. One semester before graduating medical school he took a trip through western South America with his compañero Alberto Granado. What they saw changed them. This film depicts the motorcycle trip they took from Argentina, through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. It is inspired film work.