Movies
Gael Garcia Bernal speaks out
The Latin-American star plays Che Guevara in the new film The Motorcycle Diaries By Stephen Shupe, Jayplay writer
Ernesto "Che" Guevara was one of the most galvanizing political figures of the mid-20th century, but Gael García Bernal seems more concerned with the politics of today.
"Why is a robot the governor of California?" Bernal asks.
In The Motorcycle Diaries, Bernal plays Guevara circa 1952, when the young medical student embarked on a year-long journey
Diaries "one of the most beautiful experiences" he's ever had.
A native of Guadalajara, Mexico, Bernal studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama in the late 1990s. The handsome, puppy-eyed star of Y Tu Mama
“It' WEIRD ENOUGH TO DO A SEX SCENE WITHOUT DOING IT WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND. WE HAD LOTS OF TEQUILA SHOTS TO BUILD UP OUR COURAGE.”
— GAEL GARCIA BERNAL
Tambien has been a key
through South America with friend Alberto Granado. The film, which opens tomorrow at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachusetts St., is based on the diaries Guevara and Granado kept throughout the trip.
Bernal was 23 at the time of the shoot, the same age Guevara was when he traveled across Argentina, Brazil and Peru on Granado's broken-down 1939 Norton 500 motorbike, ironically nicknamed "The Mighty One." This shared characteristic isn't lost on the actor, who considers the South American shoot of The Motorcycle
humbler has been a key figure in the Latin- American film boom that has introduced audiences to the work of Guillermo Del Toro, the gothic-horror magician behind Blade 2 and Hellboy, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the gritty stylist who cast Bernal in Amores Perros before directing 21 Grams.
Bernal, who hopes to keep working in Latin-American films, says there's a wealth of talent in Mexico but few resources. "The infrastructure just isn't there yet," he says.
For Diaries, Bernal read three Guevara biographies, brushed up on his Argentinean accent and studied the film's literary world; in the Latin America of the
1950s, William Faulkner was in fashion and Guevara was reading the poetry of Pablo Neruda.
Bernal discussed his major roles in a phone interview. Before hanging up, he told me to check out imsorry.com, where people can post apologies for reelecting a certain American president.
Amores Perros (2000)
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's breakthrough film, nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2000, gave Bernal his first major film role." I was 20 years old, and I didn't know what I was doing. We were all just basically running on instinct on that film."
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)
Bernal co-stars with real-life pal Diego Luna in Alfonso Cuaron's erotic road movie. The film culminates in an explicit sex scene between Bernal, Luna and the woman of their desire, played by Maribel Verdu. "It's weird enough to do a sex scene without doing it with your best friend. We
had lots of tequila shots to build up our courage."
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
Walter Salles directed Bernal as the young revolutionary Che Guevara in this biopic. The production included visits to such otherworldly sites as the Machu Pichu ruins of Peru. "All of us who come from this continent, we feel an awakening and a shock by confronting these places. There's definitely a before-and-after effect. It's a must for every American."
Bad Education (2004)
In his first cross-dressing role, Bernal plays a transvestite and a wannabe actor in Pedro Almodovar's melodrama about the effects of child sexual abuse on two young Catholics." Almodovar is one of the last living legends. He's always done it his own way, and that's pretty hard to do these days. He's incredibly specific about the world he wants to create, which ended up being very freeing."
The Motorcycle Diaries (★★★)
R,128 minutes
The socialist revolution makes a comeback in Walter Salles' beautifully filmed tribute to Che Guevara, the man whose bearded visage has become a hip social statement in our radically commercialized media age. The Motorcycle Diaries sends similar mixed messages as it struggles to fit revolutionary thought into a tidy mainstream package.
Starts tomorrow at Liberty Hall
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as Ernesto
"Che" Guevara, who as a 23-year-old medical student takes a road-trip with Alberto Granado. Traveling on "The Mighty One," Alberto's sputtering 1939 Norton 500 motorbike, the duo search out booze and girls when they're not wiping out along the rugged roadways of 1952 South America. The journey takes on a more serious dimension as Ernesto and Alberto encounter Communist workers victimized by the state. Eventually they arrive at a leper colony, where they volunteer to help out.
Communism has become an abstract political buzzword in America, signifying
some great, unknowable evil. By confronting some of its historical realities, in scenes that pit the working poor against state-controlled corporations, director Salles (Central Station) has made a film that's bound to infuriate right-wingers and enthrall lefties. It's no wonder that The Motorcycle Diaries has been both under- and overrated.
Apart from its politics, the film features ravishing locales that wash over you like a warm sea breeze, and it's filled with captivating performances. Bernal, star of the sexy Y Tu Mama Tambien, displays a mature, implosive power, particularly in
scenes where Salles relies on Ernesto's gaze to communicate the future revolutionary's feelings. As Alberto, Rodrigo de la Serna more than keeps up with Bernal in a richly comedic role.
Diaries reminded me a little of the early work of the aging (and former Communist) director Bernardo Bertolucci, especially his radical 1900. Both films are flawed but stunning sensory experiences, and your enjoyment of them depends on personal dogma.
— Stephen Shupe
11.18.04 Jayplay
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