Motorcycle Diaries Film Exam Essay

The movie Motorcycle Diaries is about to friends Ernesto Guevara who has the nickname â€Å"fuser† and Alberto Granado. Ernesto is a doctor in the process; he has taken a break from his studies to go on a trip, and Alberto is a biochemist. These two friends set off on a journey that starts off in Buenos Aries to travel across the whole region of South America on a motorcycle. From the beginning these two friends have the same idea, to go have fun and just have sex with the beautiful women they come across on the way. With many troubles to come they find themselves with new challenges that they must overcome. Through out the journey they begin to realize that there is more going on through out the world than what is seen by the human eye. Motorcycle diaries showed the neo-colonialist take over of foreign countries and powers. The example that showed this was that of the American mining company: Anaconda mining company. The reason for the American mining company to go to South America was because they can find cheap labor as well as cheap raw materials because the country needs to find a way to enhance its own economic struggles. By finding a country that is in dire need to raise some funds for themselves the companies see a chance to corrupt the deal, whether it being by making child labor, low wages, no benefits, and countless others. It also showed the traditional colonialism because from the anaconda mining company the workers that choose which men they will allow to work place themselves as a higher power so they are creating hierarchies, they are coming from an other country: taking the land to use for their needs, and taking the raw materials from the foreign country to grow for their own nation. It is basically both forms of colonialism combined. In the beginning of the movie Ernesto is only occupied with one thing, to have sex with beauties around South America; he is a sex addict sort of speak. Ernesto being born into a family that is well off has a good house, healthy family, and almost no problems to worry about. In the start of the travel he experiences just mechanical problems with the motorcycle and emotional conflicts with Alberto. When the bike constantly starts to break down they are forced to hitchhike on the back of trucks filled with poor indigenous natives, sees how they have to sleep, how they live and the basic problems of being poor. More through out their travel Ernesto instead of just realizing what is going on with the poor people he begins to care and wonder. While he is in a village he is asked to treat a sick woman even though he takes a look at her and knows that he can not do anything he leaves her medicine to try and help her for at least a little while. He begins to ask everyone he meets what has happened to his or her village and as to him or her as well. While staying with some of the people who are not in the greatest place he reads stories and books written from the poor persons point of view and own experiences. With the care towards the people with the least he starts to join the poor and sick. The first action that leads to this is when he gives his 15 dollars he has received from his ex girlfriend to a homeless and poor couple that has to keep traveling to get work to survive. His final step through the journey was that he joined the people who have close to nothing, in a figurative sense. While at the institute for the sick patients he beings to bond with them even more, starts talking to the sick patients about his personal life and giving them surgeries that will help them recover. He realizes that through out the world there is many boundaries that have been created but not by companies but by mankind themselves. To prove that these boundaries can be broken on the night of his birthday he decides to swim across a huge river separating the sick and the healthy to celebrate with them all; brining them together.