Diarios de motocicleta AKA The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) (7/10)

The well made movie about Che Guevera's formative days does not reveal what is to follow except for a sentence to the effect that you can not do much without guns. What is depicted instead is a compassionate, socialist, frank young person. True the stirrings increase in frequency and intensity after he and his motorcycle buddy see discrimination everywhere and signs of things getting worse. There is a genuineness which is often lacking in many revolutionaries. Many, even with the genuineness can get affected by power just like Che's later partner Fidel Castro did. Che himself jumped elsewhere to free other countries. The one sentence that stood out was when they were in Peru and he says: How is it possible to feel nostalgia for a world I never knew?

His desire to unite the people stand out. While they are not depicted as atheists, their almost revolt against everyone having to go to mass in the leper colony testifies to their being people-centric. There seemed to be many parallels with Bhagatsingh although fairly vague. Sources of the unrest, displeasure are not shown starkly or blatently which makes the movie appeal more to the mind. It is left for the viewers to find out more about the central person, and may be others like him.

Diarios de motocicleta AKA The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) (7/10)

El Laberinto del fauno AKA Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (6/10)

A fairy tale intertwined with a revolution in 1941 Spain highlighting different facets of human nature. The way real life and the fairy tale is seamlessly mixed is amazing and so is the acting. That said, I am not a great fan of mixing genres where it is not natural i.e. just for a great effect. If there was a deeper analogy e.g escapism, it was lost on me. The good thing was that neither part seemed jarring (if you excuse the violence in the war which you really shouldn't).

El Laberinto del fauno AKA Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (6/10)

Auberge espagnole, L' aka The Spanish Apartment (2002) (5/10)

A movie about a French student moving to Madrid and spending an year there living with other students from other countries and also with two people he has met at the time of his arrival. His journey through the year and ups and downs are depicted.

Auberge espagnole, L' aka The Spanish Apartment (2002) (5/10)

La Invención de Cronos aka Cronos (1993) (5/10)

This movie from Mexico has a simple idea of a device that can prolong your life. As always, there is a catch. The storyline is fairly straightforward and does not have many twists and turns. A social cum psychological angle is explored rather a scientific one. Thus the inner workings of the device are not explained making it less interesting. Why some other people act the way they do is not clear at all.

La Invención de Cronos aka Cronos (1993) (5/10)