Travel journals

Synopsis

On January 4, 1952 , Alberto Granado, a biochemist of almost 30 years, and Ernesto Guevara , 23 years old and soon a medical graduate, leave Buenos Aires for a long trek through South America to cross Argentina. , Chile , Peru , Colombia and reach Caracas in 4 and a half months, in time for Granado’s birthday. They are equipped for this purpose with an old motorcycle ( Norton 500 cm ³ ) dating from 1939, nicknamed “La Vigoureuse” ( La Poderosa in Spanish).

Their circuit includes stops in Argentina: Miramar , San Martín de los Andes , Lake Frías , Lake Nahuel Huapi ; in Chile: Temuco , Los Angeles , Valparaíso , Atacama Desert , Chuquicamata ; in Peru: Cuzco , Machu Picchu , Lima , the leper colony of San Pablo; in Colombia: Leticia ; in Venezuela : Caracas.

At the beginning of their journey, the duo stops a few days in Miramar where Ernesto finds Chichina, his girlfriend. Their tent flies away as they try to install it in Piedra del Aguila , while they are 1,800 km from Buenos Aires. They pass through Bariloche and arrive at Frias Lake on February 15th. The bike begins to have serious mechanical problems during the passage of the Andes . After Temuco, in Chile, they must flee a popular dance while they are pursued by the husband of a young woman whom Guevara wanted to seduce. A little after Los Angeles , the bike becomes unusable and they are forced to continue on foot and hitchhiking.

In Valparaíso, where they arrive on March 7th, Ernesto learns from a letter of Chichina that this one breaks with him. Crossing the Atacama Desert, the two friends meet an Indian couple driven from their homes and forced to take the road because of their communist beliefs. The two young people confess to them with a little shame that they travel for their sake only for the pleasure of traveling. They accompany them to Chuquicamata copper mine in Chile, operated by Anaconda , where Ernesto discovers angrily the harsh treatment of minors.

They then arrive in Cuzco , Peru, and meet Indians who have been driven from their land. They also discover the splendor of Machu Picchu, which leads Ernesto to wonder how a civilization capable of building a site of such beauty could be destroyed to give way to dirty and polluted cities such as Lima. The injustices they witness transform a simple adventure into an awakening of their social spirit. They meet in Lima on D ^r Pesce that collects home before sending them to the leprosarium of San Pablo, near Iquitos , where they have to work as volunteers for three weeks.

They are greeted at the leprosarium by D ^r Bresciani and Ernesto can observe the metaphorical division of the South American company with the medical team living on the banks of the Amazon while the most seriously ill patients living on the other . Ernesto has close ties with several patients. Just before their departure, an evening is given for the birthday of Ernesto who makes his first political speech on the occasion of a toast. Later, he swims across the Amazon, despite his asthmain order to spend the rest of the night with the sick. The duo then leaves for Caracas and arrives there after a trip that will have lasted almost 9 months. As they say goodbye, Granado confesses to Ernesto lying about the supposed date of his birthday, which was just a pretext supposed to serve as motivation, and Ernesto replies that he knew it from the beginning …

Technical sheet

• Title: Travel Books
• Original title: Motocicleta Diarios
• Director: Walter Salles
• Script: José Rivera from the books travel by motorcycle , of Che Guevara , and on the road with Che Guevara , with Alberto Granado
• Sets: Carlos Conti
• Costumes: Beatriz de Benedetto and Marisa Urruti
• Photography: Éric Gautier
• Editing: Daniel Rezende
• Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
• Production: Michael Nozik, Edgard Tenenbaum and Karen Tenkhoff
• Production Companies: Film4 Productions , BD Cine
• Distribution companies: Buena Vista International (Argentina), Focus Features (United States), Diaphana Films (France), Pathé Distribution (United Kingdom)
• Country of origin: Argentina
• Original languages: Spanish , Quechua , Mapudungun
• Formats: Color – 1.85: 1 – Dolby Digital sound – 35 mm
• Genre: Road movie , Drama
• Duration: 126 minutes
• Release dates:
  • Sundance Film Festival : January 15 , 2004
  •  Brazil : May 7 , 2004
  •  Argentina : July 29 , 2004
  •  France , Belgium , French-speaking Switzerland :   September 8 , 2004
  •  Canada : October 8 , 2004

Distribution

• Gael García Bernal : Ernesto Guevara
• Rodrigo de la Serna : Alberto Granado
• Mia Maestro : Chichina Ferreyra
• Jorge Chiarella: D ^r Bresciani
• Gustavo Bueno D ^Dr. Hugo Pesce
• Mercedes Morán : Celia of the Serna
• Jean Pierre Noher  (en) : Ernesto Guevara Lynch
• Facundo Espinosa  (en) : Tomas Granado
• Jaime Azócar: the director of the mine

Production

In order to better immerse herself in her role, Gael García Bernal prepared for six months reading Che Guevara’s biographies , traveling to Cuba to discuss with her family and with Alberto Granado ¹ . He also adopts the Argentine accent and reads the works of José Martí , Karl Marx and Pablo Neruda (Che’s favorite poet). Bernal comments on this intensive preparation: “I feel invested with great responsibility. I want to play my part at best because of what Che Guevara represents around the world. He was a romantic who had a political conscience that changed Latin America ” ².

Filming takes place throughout South America , Argentina ( Buenos Aires , Miramar , San Martin de los Andes and Lake Nahuel Huapi ), Chile ( Temuco , Los Ángeles , Valparaíso , Chuquicamata and Atacama Desert ), in Peru ( Cusco , Machu Picchu , Lima , San Pablo leprosarium ), as well as in Leticia , Colombia , and Caracas, in Venezuela .

Home

The film is presented for the first time to the public on January 15 , 2004at the Sundance Film Festival , where he receives a standing ovation ³ . He won a major commercial success for a South American film, relating 57,663,224 $ at the box office worldwide (including 16,781,387 $ to US and Canada ) ⁴ . It makes 797,913 admissions in France , 171,020 in Belgium , 129,304 in Switzerland and 93,929 in Quebec ⁵ .

World Box Office by Country of the Movie Travel Notebooks (Set Descending Direction)

Country	Box Office	Country	Box Office	Country	Box Office
United States	$ 16,781,387	Spain	1,807,447 $	Denmark	$ 418,818
Italy	$ 5,106,046	Swiss	$ 1,431,783	Austria	$ 355,043
UK	$ 4,914,286	Belgium	$ 1,289,018	Portugal	$ 349,930
la France	$ 4,400,638	New Zealand	$ 739,114	South Korea	$ 207,899
Germany	$ 3,441,697	Netherlands	$ 622,100	Turkey	$ 188,915
Mexico	$ 2,914,488	Norway	$ 533,433	Chile	$ 180,251
Brazil	$ 2,697,043	Greece	$ 491,500	Taiwan	$ 166,606
Australia	$ 2,639,811	Argentina	$ 471,133	Sweden	$ 135,979

It has been well received by critics, garnering 84% positive reviews, with an average score of 7.5 / 10 and based on 154 reviews collected, on the Rotten Tomatoes website ⁶ . He scores 75/100, based on 37 reviews, on Metacritic ⁷ .

In France , he obtains an average score of 3.9 / 5 on the AlloCiné ⁸ press review . The Figaroscope evokes “a beautiful humanist work, simple and generous” ; The World an “initiatory and picaresque ride” “moving from comic sequences to premonitory moments as we find in the biographies of great men” ; Positive a “wonderful learning story” coupled with a “homage to the South American continent” ; Télérama a “mesmerizing road movie” and “a luminous odyssey” ;L’Humanité a “rather successful” film with actors “winning the conviction” ; and Libération a work “that often vibrates” but where “lacks the spark that would set fire to the expected mythology” . First is more shared, regretting that the subject takes “its true dimension, spiritual and human, only in the last third of the story” ; while Les Cahiers du Cinéma and Les Inrockuptibles deliver negative reviews, evoking respectively a film purified “of any trace of politics” and a “story stitched with white thread”to “any staging” ⁸ .

Distinctions

Unless otherwise stated, this list comes from information on the Internet Movie Database ⁹ .

Awards

• 2004 Cannes Film Festival (official selection):
  • Price François Chalais .
  • Ecumenical Jury Prize.
  • Eric Gautier (director of photography) obtains the Vulcan Award from the technician artist for his work on the film and on Clean (also in competition).
• San Sebastián Festival – Audience Award 2004.
• Public Prize at the 2004 Norwegian International Film Festival .
• Oscar for the best original song for Al otro lado del río by Jorge Drexler in 2005.
• BAFTA Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Music in 2005.
• Goya Award for Best Adaptation in 2005.
• Independent Spirit Awards for the best photography and the best male revelation ( Rodrigo de la Serna ) in 2005.
• ACE Award for Best Actor ( Gael García Bernal ), Best Director and Best Supporting Actor (Rodrigo de la Serna) in 2005.

Appointments

• European Film Award for Best Non-European Film in 2004
• Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2005
• Golden Globe for best foreign film in 2005
• BAFTA Awards for Best Picture , Best Adapted Screenplay , Best Actor ( Gael Garcia Bernal ), Best Supporting Actor ( Rodrigo de la Serna ) and Best Picture in 2005.
• Caesar of the best foreign film in 2005.
• Satellite Awards for best foreign film and best actor (Gael Garcia Bernal) in 2005.
• Critics Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Director in 2005.
• Chlotrudis Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2005.
• ACE Award for Best Picture in 2005

Notes and references