Diarios de motocicleta 2004

Critics score:
84 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Quietly exhilarating, soulful and sincerely romantic. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: A dull, unsatisfying experience -- as well as inconclusive. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Reaches back to the past to suggest that life is full of turning points, some of which we recognize and some we don't, and that, in a dangerous world, youth and friendship are to be treasured because, like life, they can pass so quickly. Read more

Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader: Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: You get so caught up in the beauty of the images, and lost in the weathered faces found along the way, you quite forget that you're traveling with Che Guevara -- which is, of course, exactly what the original experience would be. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Revisits Guevara's 8,000-mile tour of South America -- and the origins of his personal revolution -- with humor, exquisite compassion and visual grace. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: I think it is beautifully shot, and the chemistry between these two young actors is terrific. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's about the gradual wakening into awareness, the graduation from carefree youth to responsible adulthood. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Essentially an overly long endurance test, and it wears us out by the end. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: For a movie, this feels inadequate, despite its splendors and, later, its social dismay. It does, however, have the makings of a grand postcard. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: As this soulful and reflective film, as gentle as it is potent, ably demonstrates, transformation is no less convincing for being a gradual process that comes on its subjects all unawares. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Best savored as a beautifully photographed and scored road trip and as a character study of disparate men who somehow fit together as friends. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: About the personal transformations, the modes of empathy that precede ideology. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Operates under the spectacularly simpleminded idea that Marxism came down to 'caring.' Read more

Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News: Credit Mr. Salles with making all the right artistic decisions and turning what could have been a routine polemical film into a fresh mind-changing experience. Read more

Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: The relentless hagiography by Salles and screenwriter Jose Rivera results in a bloodless exercise. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: If the bike is a train wreck, Salles' own vehicle is lithe and supple. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: A deeply felt and beautifully acted hagiography -- a portrait of a citizen of the world as a young man. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A riveting travelogue / character study filled with mythic landscapes and poignant encounters of near-molecular intimacy. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Mostly, it is a conventional road movie -- a buddy comedy even -- about the quests of two likable guys. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Walter Salles's stirring and warm-hearted film reconstructs a journey across South America taken by Ernesto Guevara before his career as a revolutionary. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: If I was moved despite my ingrained skepticism about Che Guevara and Castro's Cuba, you probably will be too. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A marvelous road picture and boys-become-men adventure, full of the best kind of idealism. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Tells a very personal tale with a central theme we can all relate to: the loss of innocence. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Interesting in the manner of a travelogue but simplistic as a study of Che's political conversion. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Whether you want to see The Motorcycle Diaries as entirely a personal story or as social and political allegory, it captures a far different and far more vulnerable Ernesto Guevara than the one we think we know. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's a trip nobody should miss. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Call The Motorcycle Diaries more hagiography than biography if you like, but it's undoubtedly a beautifully crafted and heartfelt one. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: There are many moments that add up to a grander appreciation of a memorable journey and an unforgettable character. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A beautifully wrought account of the dawning of the social conscience of one of the 20th century's most romanticized revolutionaries. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Lovely to look at but insipid, a lavishly illustrated Rough Guide to white liberal self-affirmation. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: What Bernal and this well-wrought movie convey so well is the charisma that would soon become a part of human history and, yes, T-shirts. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: A surprisingly effective re-creation of a Latin American Bing and Bob on the Road to History. Read more