The Motorcycle Diaries premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 15, 2004 and was later released in the United States on September 24, 2004. Starring in the film are Gael Garcia Bernal as Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, commonly referred to as Che Guevara, and Rodrigo de la Serna as Alberto Granado. The film won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song and nominated for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/

In 1952, a young Che Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado took an 8,000 mile trip from one end of South America to the other. They made their journey using various forms of transportation: foot, truck, raft and a motorcycle. that allowed them to have intimate and personal encounters with many people along the way. They met people unlike anyone they would ever have met in their home town, people who had suffered from incredible injustices and poverty for their entire lives.

Their interaction with a couple who were forced out of their community to live on the streets based on their communist beliefs, the intolerable working conditions of workers in a copper mine, the contrast between the majestic Inca ruins of Macchu Picchu and the urban sprawl below and three weeks of volunteer work in a leper colony turned out to be life-altering experiences. The young mens' vision of the world changed daily as their journey progressed, effecting them both in ways neither of them had expected. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318462/synopsis

"For a movie, this feels inadequate, despite its splendors and, later, its social dismay. It does, however, have the makings of a grand postcard."— Wesley Morris, Boston.com http://www.boston.com/movies/display?display=movie&id=6844

"If Ernesto had not later become "Che" Guevara and inspired countless T-shirts, there would be no reason to tell this story, which is interesting in the manner of a travelogue but simplistic as a study of Che's political conversion."— Roger Eberthttp://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041001/REVIEWS/40920008/1023

"This subtitled movie has value as a historical travelogue, but the idea is better suited for print. That makes sense because the film is based on two books: The Motorcycle Diaries, by Guevara, and Traveling With Che Guevara, by his companion on the trip, Alberto Granado."— Bill Meller, The Arizona Republichttp://www.azcentral.com/ent/movies/articles/1001motorcycle01.html