Recess hitches a ride with Motorcycle writer, José Rivera

The Motorcycle Diaries, directed by Walter Salles and adapted

from Ché Guevera’s Notas de viaje by José

Rivera, chronicles the South American road trip of Alberto Granado

(Rodrigo de la Serna) and Ernesto Guevara (Gael García

Bernal), before the latter became the

socialist-revolutionary-cum-poster-icon, Ché Guevara. In the

midst of the movie’s critical success, screenwriter

José Rivera talked to Recess Lead Film Writer Katie

remember him when he was still alive. He was in the air, sort of

like Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and those

heroes of the counterculture of the ’60s. He was definitely

one of those. He was a looming presence.

Recess: What were you trying to accomplish with the screenplay

of The Motorcycle Diaries?

JR: We wanted to demythologize Ché, and show how the

seeds were planted that eventually brought him to be the

revolutionary we all know about. We wanted to show what he was like

before that revolutionary was born.

Recess: Do the English subtitles accurately reflect the nuances

of your Spanish screenplay?

JR: I actually wrote the screenplay in English and then it was

translated into Spanish and of course filmed in Spanish. When the

film was finished and it was time to do the subtitles, they hired a

company to do them, and Walter [Salles, the director] and I hated

what they had done. I volunteered to rewrite all the subtitles

myself. I spent two days with the tape of the movie and pad of

paper and completely rewrote them all. They’re much more

faithful to the original English language script that I wrote.

Recess: Are you happy with how TMD turned out?

JR: I think it’s a beautiful, beautiful movie. The acting

is exceptional; the photography is amazing; I love the music. For

the writer, there’s always going to be things that you wish

had made it into the final cut. If we had been able to shoot

everything I wrote, it would be a funnier movie. There were some

sweet, funny scenes that were written and shot but didn’t

make it into the final cut… because Walter felt that it was

not the right moment for humor. He wanted something more pensive

and reflective.

Recess: The tone of the movie ended up being really serious,

with Ernesto becoming almost Christ-like and flawless. He

couldn’t even tell a white lie to the doctor about his book.

Was this intentional?

JR: That was pretty historical. In all the biographies one of

his flaws was that he couldn’t lie—to the point of

being completely undiplomatic and hurting people’s feelings.

But I agree with you—if the movie has a flaw, it’s that

it doesn’t show enough of Ernesto’s faults. He seems so

good [in the movie]—but if you read his diary, you realize he

wasn’t really so good. There were scenes shot with Ernesto

showing more edge that didn’t make it into the final cut. In

a way the edge that I wrote into the script got softened a lot.

Recess: If you had directed TMD yourself, would you have had

Gael García Bernal portray Ernesto with more edge?

JR: I would have hinted at his darker, interior life. In all the

biographies of Ché that I’ve read, people talk about

his really cutting, sarcastic sense of humor. He could really cut a

person down to size with just a couple of words. He was just so

smart.

Recess: What are your thoughts on TMD being disqualified from

the Best Foreign Film Oscar category?

JR: The problem is, with Best Foreign Film, each film is

nominated by a separate country. This film doesn’t really

belong to any one country: it’s not an Argentine film;

it’s not a Chilean film; it’s not a Brazilian film. If

it is nominated for an Oscar, it would have to be nominated for

Best Picture.

Recess: And perhaps a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for

you?

JR: That would be awesome!