viva la cuba

D and I had a Cuban inspired Labor Day weekend. The long weekend was spent watching films about Che Guevara, drowning our ears with Cuban jazz, and enjoying Cuba Libres and Mojitos at home. We didn't really plan on it. It just sorta happened.

 
D downloaded Che, the two part biopic of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, directed by Steven Soderbergh. Che Part 1: The Argentine, focused on the Cuban Revolution and how Fidel Castro and Che Guevara successfully toppled Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship. Che Part 2: Guerilla, on the other hand, focused on Che's attempt to bring revolution to Bolivia, which led to his capture and death. Benicio del Toro played Che to the T and rightfully so, won Best Actor Award for it at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

I would have to admit I knew little about Che Guevara before watching the film. Before watching the film, Che Guevara was just a face I usually see in shirts sold in Khao San Road, a personality that I would almost immediately equate to Communism. Watching the film gave me a better understanding of the man and what he fought for, definitely different from how Americans portrayed him. Che was charismatic and a true revolutionary who fought for a united America.

Enamored with Che's life, D and I wanted to know more about him which led to us watching Diarios de Motocicleta, also known as The Motorcycle Diaries. This film, directed by Walter Salles, was about the journey of the young Che Guevara, played by the talented Gael Garcia Bernal, and his friend Alberto Granado. The two embarked on a  motorcycle road trip across South America. The original plan was to travel 8,000 km in 4 months to explore the Latin American continent they only knew by books. Such a noble undertaking for a 23-year old medical student who was a semester away from a medical degree. Needless to say, Che and Alberto discovered Latin America in a way that changed who they were and what they believed in.

It was fascinating to see a different side to Che Guevara and  to get to know who he was before he lived a revolutionary life. You can say that this is where it all began. It was evident in his thank you speech on his birthday that he celebrated at a leper colony in Peru:

"Even though we are too insignificant to be spokesmen for such a noble cause, we believe, and this journey has only confirmed this belief, that the division of American into unstable and illusory nations is a complete fiction. We are one single mestizo race from Mexico to the Magellan Straits. And so, in an attempt to free ourselves from narrow minded provincialism, I propose a toast to Peru and to a united America."

Have you watched these movies? If not, maybe you should. 

[Photos from Wikipedia and iMDb]