In Monday’s class, Doctora put on a film called The Motorcycle Diaries. This non-fiction movie is about young Che Guevara traveling around South America with his pal, Alberto. Both men, educated in medicine, travel and are exposed to the harsh treatment of people living in poverty yet working long hours to provide for themselves. It was a heartfelt movie and I had no idea this was a true story about one of the most notorious figures of revolution- Che Guevara.
Class on Wednesday began with a quiz on The Motorcycle Diaries. The questions asked about certain scenes and themes. I talked about the scene where Che told an older man he had a tumor. Che was honest because his compassion outshined the greed Alberto had. Alberto lied to the man so that him and Fuser could be on good terms with the man and stay the night at his house. Che appears to be a lovable character. The themes in the film included class, compassion, oppression, politics, etc. Throughout their travels, Alberto and Che saw people living in poverty because they had lost their lands and lives to people with money and authority. This touched Che, and he is shown to have compassion for these people. In one scene, a mine company is abusing its workers and he calls out that the people are thirsty, yet the company man aggressively told him to get lost.
Che started supporting communism for better treatment towards people like the miners. In class, we went into more detail about his life. Che’s mindset became violent as he sided more with communism. He oversaw over 2000 executions and was called the “butcher of la cabana”. He began to wipe out those who disagreed with his ideals. He was captured in Bolivia and executed in 1967 by the U.S. CIA.
The rest of the class time included looking into the legacy Guevara left behind. We contemplated the question, “Is Che a hero or a villain?” I personally believe he is a villain because no leader should kill their people because they disagree. Diversity is special and making everything the same is impossible. However, he is a hero of youth.
Hear me out, young Guevara was a handsome honey...
Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara
The film really illustrates how honest and naive Che was. It's really hard to believe that he is also the same man that killed and executed thousands of people. I totally agree that Che was a villain.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is entitled to their wrong opinion that young Che Guevara was handsome.
Gael > Young Che