Motorcycle Diaries

I defy anyone not to find this remarkable soundscape anything short of stunning.

Don’t be put off by occational sorrow this soundtrack has many wonderful inspiring passages.

Gustavo Santaolalla’s stunning mix that moves between bombo drums and the charango vs. the strings, as if they were the characters and the orchestra the landscape. Then we hear the electric guitar chord, like the time passing, giving a time context, actuality and rebel. It is appropriate for telling the story of such a controversial personality, traveling around a landscape without words to describe: South America. A great reminder to check out these Cuban filmmakers too.

3 Replies to “Motorcycle Diaries”

  1. “It is not an unusual life-curve for Westerners–to live in and be shaped by the bigness, sparseness, space, clarity, and hopefulness of the West, to go away for study and enlargement and the perspective that distance and dissatisfaction can give, and then to return to what pleases the sight and enlists the loyalty and demands the commitment.”

    Wallace Stegner, “Finding the Place: A Migrant Childhood”

  2. Nice description pulled from Amazon:

    As most potential viewers know, this film is based on diaries and letters to home written by Ernesto “Che” Guevara during a motorcycle and foot tour of a significant portion of South America during the early 1950s, years before Guevara achieved international renown as a Communist and Latino revolutionary. Thus, the film functions as an attempt to get at the heart of the person who preceded the myth. The film is therefore difficult to judge as pure cinema. Is this, on its own merits, a great film? Or is it a great film about Che Guevara? Interestingly, the person I saw this film with knew absolutely nothing about the subject of the film before it started, and did not connect Ernesto Guevara with Che Guevara until very late in the film. Her reaction was interesting. Until she realized that it was about Che, she says that she considered it a decent but only slightly above average “road” picture, but it gained considerably in her estimation once she realized who the film was about. I think she was correct, and I would agree with those who feel that what merits the film has depends to some degree on who the film is about. If Ernesto hadn’t become Che, it would be a good film but of considerably less interest than it is.

  3. “If Ernesto hadn’t become Che, it would be a good film but of considerably less interest than it is.” This is exactly how you build a late ‘wow’ factor into your film.

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