Poop Shute

MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

I watched the above flick tonight. It was interesting. We get a portrait of what the young
bright-eyed, pre-obstinant-and-cold-blooded-idealogue Che Guevara might have
been like. I'll actually bet that it is a fairly accurate portayal too. We see that he was fiercely loyal and loving, honest to a fault, extremely charismatic, and deeply passionate. The movie is fun and made me want to do exactly what they did; just say fvck-all and drive all over the damn place on a motorcycle without any money or security at all. It sounds scary, but fun as all hell.

But would someone please explain to me the hero-worship of this guy? Yes, he was an idealist. Yes, he was a revolutionary. Yes, his motivations were good... initially. BUT from what I read he was so bull-headed that after the success of the cuban revolution he pushed so hard for pure communism so fast that he single-handedly nearly collapsed the economy completely. He succeeded in quickly alienating himself from Fidel and his cronies with his inflexibilty (not to mention the big boys in the USSR) and they basically kicked him out.

WIKIPEDIA talks in very nice phrases about that period. Very generously they say that he "left" cuba. Right, he helped start a war, set up a new government and then thought it was time to mosey on. Sure. Truth is it turned out he was good with guerilla warfare, but he had no aptitude for governing, and was too stubborn to compromise. After he "left" he then went on to latch himself onto fledgeling revolutions in other South American locales, and even one in Africa. All failed to become communist regimes in the end. One such attempt got him caught and executed by a CIA-backed operation. The movie calls it murder. Pardon me if I don't shed a tear for the man. In war time he tended to execute prisoners out of hand himself, so let's call it karma and leave it be.

I've written about this before here, this movie just kicked up the dust.

Anyway, as a movie existing in a vaccuum, I liked it. Taking it for what it was, it was good. You have likable characters undertaking a challenging and interesting journey that is full of good dialogue and fun twists and turns as they haphazardly make their way across South America. BUT knowing what I know about the figure that the endearingly passionate young man will become, and that people will sing his praises for generations, it leave a bad taste in my mouth. It feels kind of propagandish.

Coined a new word there. Propagandish. Watch, some people will attribute that to Che too.

2.5 out of 5 Poops

COMMENTS:

Yeah, Joey and I more or less agree on this one. But Joey gives me no sidekick credit or love. And I need some love here. On Joey's blog. I need love on Joey's blog.
Josh
Hagler 05.12.06 - 10:37 pm

Haha. Nothin but love
And who's to say I'm not the sidekick? This movie was viewed, afterall, on your recommendation. :-)
Joey 05.12.06 - 11:02 pm