The Motorcycle Diaries: The Ghost of El Che and Christian Theology Pt.1
October 21, 2004
From time to time, we’re going to begin featuring guest bloggers here at pomomusings. I’m honored to have my good friend, Reno Lauro, post a two-part review and reflection on The Motorcycle Diaries.
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The Motorcycle Diaries: The Ghost of El Che and Christian Theology Pt.1
“Early in the morning of the 9th of October, the unit received the order to execute Guevara and the other captives. Previously, Col. Santana, Commander of the 8th Division, had given express orders to keep the prisoners alive. The Officers involved did not know where the order originated, but felt that it came from the highest echelons . . . Guevara stood and faced him. Sgt. Terran told Guevara to be seated but he refused to sit down and stated, “I will remain standing for this.” The Sgt. began to get angry and told him to be seated again, but Guevara would say nothing. Finally Guevara told him, “Know this now, you are [only] killing a man.” Terran then fired a burst from his M2 carbine, knocking Guevara back into the wall of the small house.” 1
Ernesto “Che” Guevara was murdered on October 9, 1967 in Bolivia by the Bolivian military, U.S. Army Special Forces and the CIA. The mythos of El Che and his iconic image makes him one of the 20th centuries greatest figures -depending on which side of the river you look from. The recent film “The Motorcycle Diaries” by Brazilian director Walter Salles Jr. (City of God 2003) is an attempt to liberate Che from pop-icon status - the patented deathblow of our glorious capitalist machine that castrates people and ideas by absorbing them and turning them into commodities. Salles’ gritty docu-drama frees Che from college tee shirts and posters, from Warhol’s pop gaze and Neo-Imperialistic propaganda.
The film is based on Che’s book The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey. Both chronicle 23 year old Guevara’s, played by Gael Garcia Bernal (Y Tu Mama Tambien 2001, Amores Perros 2001) travels across South America on a motorcycle with his friend Alberto Granado (Rodrigo de la Serna) in 1951-1952. This personal odyssey ultimately is what inspires Che to become a revolutionary. On the surface the film is a coming of age adventure road trip. Imagine Kerouac’s On the Road in South America. The action in the film varies from the suspenseful (exploring Incan ruins) to the comedic (falling off their bikes, wooing women, drunken revelry) to the serious (volunteering at a leper colony).
However, as I sit here writing this review listening to folk music inspired by Che it is imperative that we understand that the film is so much more. The film is a journey into what it means to live for others. Once the duo leave Argentina Salles begins to incorporate a very effective documentary film style that plays out in a series of interviews with locals. These vignettes transform youthful adventure into an exploration of the beauty of the Latin American culture and the horrors of Latin American injustice that began with the arrival of the Spaniards 500 years ago. Guevara and Granado ultimately arrive at a leper colony along the Amazon River. Here we see Che’s growing love for other grind against Christian religion. I will develop this topic further in part two.
The Motorcycle Diaries is a journey through the geography of Latin American and human social structures. But it is also a story for us all. In a time in history where the U.S. middle class is shrinking rapidly, the global divide between the haves and the have nots continues to expand and global capitalism continues to drive the interests of world politics this movie matters. The spirit of Che Guevara is a sprit of compassion for the other, a spirit that we all should tap into, a spirit very much in union with the work of Christ. In this lies the rub . . . as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, what can a man like Ernesto Che Guevara teach us about our own faith and our own failure of faith. I dare say a lot.
“I am not interested in dry economic socialism. We are fighting against misery, but we are also fighting against alienation. One of the fundamental objectives of Marxism is to remove interest, the factor of individual interest, and gain, from people’s psychological motivations. Marx was preoccupied both with economic factors and with their repercussions on the spirit. If communism isn’t interested in this too, it may be a method of distributing goods, but it will never be a revolutionary way of life.” - Ernesto Che Guevara
Reno Lauro is a third year M.Div student, filmmaker and poet. He is currently applying to PhD programs in a hope to ponder the mysteries of Theology and the Imagination. He loves pomomusings.
Footnotes- http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/biography/last-days.htm ↩
Posted in 
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
October 22nd, 2004 at 12:57 am
Thanks for the review - I almost bought this book when I was at Barnes and Noble the other day.
Do you know where the movie was filmed?
October 22nd, 2004 at 4:24 pm
Beautiful film. Captivating soundtrack, which I’ve been listening to a fair bit recently.
October 22nd, 2004 at 6:33 pm
Two quotes:
“Hatred is an element of struggle; relentless hatred of the enemy that impels us over and beyond the natural limitations of man and transforms us into effective, violent, selective, and cold killing machines. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy.”
Che’ Guevera 1967
Matthew 5
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,[1] let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers,[2] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus Christ (circa 31 A.D.)
You are right. What can Che’ teach us?
October 23rd, 2004 at 2:42 pm
I hesitate to say anything here, because I don’t want to open up a can of worms, but . . .
Chris P., I’m having trouble with the hostile, sarcastic tone of your comments. If you disagree with someone, wouldn’t it be more effective to do so with gentleness and respect?
As for the question raised above: ALL human beings are flawed because we ALL have sinned. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn anything from another human being. Jesus tells us “love your neighbor as yourself,” and “whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” Anyone who demonstrates sacrificial love can teach us something, can’t they?
October 23rd, 2004 at 10:14 pm
Sarcastic and hostile? I posted 2 quotes, not my own, and offered 2 short sentences. I am being nice and polite . Apparently any dissent that is not coming from your side of the issue, is sacrcastic, or hateful,or hostile. The quotes speak for themselves. If you are going to use the excuse that we are all flawed to support the above post, then you cannot criticize pro-Bush supporters, or Bush himself for that matter or those who believe homosexuality to be sin. This is not a discussion nor a defense of those stands. I am merely pointing out that either you are all deceived or unashamedly hypocritical. It works for all or it doesn’t work at all. I have no intention of commenting any further on this post. Just exposing the irony.
October 24th, 2004 at 4:36 pm
dude,
so it’s a good flic? You know I won’t go if I’m going to be propagandized.
October 25th, 2004 at 12:03 am
Sorry, I can’t let this one die so easily. I find it funny that Chris would bring up the sermon on the mount in order to paint Che Guevara as an evil man. And although Che was far from perfect or messianic, why is it that the sermon on the mount is such a harsh arguement for him and not for the foreign policy of the U.S. in the 3 years since that day? I mean, come on, it sounds to me like because of Che’s political stances he is to be condemned for everything that he ever did, yet because W isn’t a Communist/Marxist, he’s above reproach for what boils down to the same crimes when viewed objectively, and that would be hatred. Che’s hatred of the conservative, give-to-the-wealthy stances, and W’s hatred of anything not totally in line with the neo-conservative stances of the Bible belt. I wonder why it was that I got into such a wonderful discussion with a guy here in Idaho in the months leading up to the war about my anti-war sign that simply read, “Blessed are the Peacemakers.” I was told that those words didn’t apply in the scenario that I was using them. What is funny is that this guy used scripture to tell me why I was misusing the words of Christ. Just another example of how anyone can skew scripture to make it fit how they want.
October 25th, 2004 at 10:57 am
I am merely pointing out the hypocrisy here. I am not defending Bush, the war, or necons. Che’ could have cared less about the cause of Christ. I am also tired of the “we are all flawed so no one can speak out for truth or quote scripture” argument.Our imperfections are why there is a cross. (1 John 1 and 2.) HE came so that we could become fit workers for the Kingdom and proclaim Him(the Truth) and His Kingdom i.e. the place where truth dwells. It doesn’t dwell in marxist socialism. Che’ only had “compassion” on those who empowered him. Gee sounds like a politician. What post-modern blogdom really promotes is anarchy. I’m really done now.
October 25th, 2004 at 12:07 pm
How does indicting “U.S. foreign policy” make Che some kind of role model to christians? I’m not arguing that he wasn’t, but blaming America doesn’t make Che any more nor less defensible as a role model.
October 25th, 2004 at 2:31 pm
All that I was pointing out in the indictment of the US foreign policy is how hypocritical Chris’s arguement was in its application to Che. Not saying that Chris was the hypocrite, but that I have used the same arguement in different circumstances just to be called a heretic and on and on.
October 25th, 2004 at 2:44 pm
Aaron,
for Chris’s statements to have been a hypocritical, he would have had to be defending U.S. foreign policy while at the same time indicting Che. I see nowhere in this thread where he did that. Your response to Chris’s observation about Che was kneejerk Liberal, not christian. Chris used Scripture to adress Che; you used Lib talking points.
Blaming America doesn’t make Che any more nor less acceptable to me as a role model, and I think that was the issue, not U.S. foreign policy.
October 25th, 2004 at 7:14 pm
I wasn’t indicting Chris at all, he just brought up my arguing point. I love to take stabs at foreign policy whenever the opportunity arises, as anyone who knows me will attest. I wasn’t trying to defend Che any more than I was trying to point out how the same passage of scripture can be used to defend or attack the same point, as I have argued before. That’s all I was saying, and I just happened to get a chance to take a shot at foreign policy in the process.
March 23rd, 2005 at 4:32 pm
“In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm”
~Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara
June 1st, 2005 at 1:37 am
does anyone know where the quote “”In fact, if Christ himself stood in my way, I, like Nietzsche, would not hesitate to squish him like a worm” - ernesto che guevarra came from? i had never heard that before. is it in a book? is it something someone made up?