Text 1- Diarios de Motocicleta (Motorcycle diaries) (culture)

A. MLA: Motorcycle Diaries -. Dir. Walter Salles. Perf. Gael Garcia Bernal. 2004. DVD.

B. Original summary- Motorcycle diaries describes and walks us through the journey of the almost doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado. This trip was initially just for fun and to celebrate Alberto’s 30th birthday that was coming up. They would only use a almost broken down motorcycle that was called “La Poderosa” (All mighty) to travel all over South America. They never did realize that this would change their lives completely. As they traveled more and more, this helped them realize that life isn’t as perfect for everyone else out there. They saw people dying from no medical attention in Chile. They saw people that were homeless in Peru because the government decided to take the only piece of land that they owned and used for farming. In Brazil they saw how even the people that had multiple lentigines were not treated at the same level by the nuns and the doctors their. Even though they had the attention, they didn’t have the dignity they they should have. This ultimately inspired “Che” to revolutionize and demand. The movie ends by say “Yo ya no soy yo, por lo menos ya no soy el mismo yo”. (I am not myself anymore, at least I’m not the same myself anymore)
-->Translation doesn’t sound nearly as pretty as it sounds in Spanish.

C. Explannation- This movie serves in many ways for my classroom. The first time I saw this movie, it was in AP Spanish in high school and I was 17. I didn’t think it would impact me as much as it did. Since then, I  have watched it more than 10 times. This was probably one of the reasons why I studied abroad. I had been stuck in Greensboro for the last 21 years and I needed to see the world outside of this city. I think “Che” does a good job reflecting the importance of traveling and what surprises we find if we do so. Apart from being so inspiring I believe this movie is also very cultural and representative of the latino community. Even though there is not too many resources, family still remains together. This will also allow my students to start seeing the scenery of South America. This will allow students to become more conscious of their surroundings to a certain extent. Not everyone has life as easy as it may seem. I believe it is important to start planting the seed of wanting to know about other ethnic backgrounds and this movie even though it all takes place in South America, it shows diverse groups of South Americans. In one section, there is also a group of indigenous Peruvians that don’t Speak spanish and they reflect upon this with the translator and they state the struggles of not being able to speak Spanish. This will also help students understand the difficulties of not understanding English in the United States and how sometimes we shouldn’t be so quick to judge and yell “Speak English”.