A couple of days ago, I watched a Spanish movie that my friend recommended called Motorcycle Diaries (Diarios de motocicleta), which depicts the 7-month journey of two men around South America on a battered motorcycle in 1952. This movie is based on the travel journals of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, one of the greatest iconic leader in the Cuban revolution. I thought it was a great movie that shows how one's travels and observations from the travels can change one's life drastically forever! Guevara and his buddy Alberto Granado were merely looking for fun and adventure through the trip but what they saw changed their lives forever. Guevara was humbled by the less fortunate people he met along the journey and was shocked to learn about the indigenous peasantry, the segregation of the sick from the healthy in Peru, and the endemic poverty all over the continent. Through his observations, he came to the understanding that the economic and social disparities in the continent is due to imperialism in the past and capitalism and that revolution is the only way to change things.
I found the movie really thought-provoking. First, it brought up the question of the best way to make changes and better the world. Bloody revolution vs. passive resistance? Next it made me think about what I can do for this world? To what extend am I willing to give and contribute to the betterment of this planet or my own country for that matter? Guevara gave up his comfortable life to fight for a better future for South America.
Questions aside, this movie only added fuel to my burning desire to travel to South America. Machu Picchu!! I thought about my own life - the possibilities of me ever doing something like that? Something crazy...you just don't know what's gonna happen next and I wonder if I were to do something of that sort, who is going to be my co-pilot? I feel like life is not complete without doing something crazy.
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