Road trips have the magic of transforming spirits.
Personal experience attests to that. In the long
journey, there are points that stand out. Points when
you are confronted by the depth of simple interactions
with others you meet. Points that become fixed in
memory for the inspired significance you will draw
every time they are recalled.

And so while watching ?Motorcycle Diaries?, tracing
the cross-continental trip Che Guevara took with his
friend, I was always seeking to identify those certain
points which ultimately transformed Che and eventually
propelled him to becoming the resistance icon of the
20th century. Points that pushed him to realize the
most inspiring of ideals ? those of equality and
freedom. From the escaping communist couple, to the
mining workers in Chile, to the indigenous of Peru to
the hospital for leprosy victims, all these people
played their role in transforming the wandering spirit
of Che.

The movie remained simple in its projected
observations and did not slide down any ideological
path ? and thankfully so. I suppose it need not have,
for Che, as the world knows him, was always
unambiguous in his political orientation. Struggle
and activism, so undeniably rooted in the tumultuous
history and unbelievable people of Latin America, are
traits which define life and heroism. ?Motorcycle
Diaries? documents how these traits were embedded in
Latin America?s most popular son.

As the asthma-effected Che jumps into the Amazon to
swim across and celebrate his birthday with the
segregated leprosy patients you find yourself pulled
in and rooting for the man to make it across. Defying
odds was Che?s trademark. And the movie captures one
such instance of Che?s resolve as he swims across the
Amazon to reach those rejected and segrated by society. This action of his is a pleasent foreshadowing of what feats against unforgiving odds Che will strike against.