Diarios de Motocicleta

Although the film, Diarios de Motocicleta, basically started out as a fun filled, cross country trek for 2 friends, Ernesto and Alberto, I think there were many experiences that transformed Ernesto's personality and mindset influencing him to become the leader and revolutionary that he eventually became. Ernesto's philosophy about life changed over the course of the adventure.
The first influence was when Ernesto finds himself torn between his girlfriend, Ferraya, and his commitment to serving in the leper colony, which is an end destination in the trip. He must fore go his personal wants for the commitment to volunteer in the leper community. You see Ernesto as one committed to his promise or obligation.
In early scenes of this film, Ernesto comes across as a no nonsense, straight shooter, as with the man with the neck tumor. He is almost too blunt, not tempering his delivery of the diagnosis of a tumor, but with time and experience, he develops a more sensitive side to be able to converse and empathize with those that are ill.
His compassion is evident with the old woman in Chile as he knows there is nothing he can really do to save her but offers her comfort. He develops a charisma in his interactions with the elderly and infirmed.
You can see he develops a comfort level in interacting with people he meets along the journey.He becomes a more social being as he interacts with people he meets in the towns they travel through.
As the journey progresses, you see Ernesto begin to internalize the needs of the oppressed as he meets up with the communist couple whose land has been overtaken by a big property owner. He is overwhelmed by the number of men at the mine looking for work that have lost their land due to similar over takings. He meets farmers whose property is usurped once the land is productive, and farmers uniting to care for one anothers families out of a common need. All of these situations awaken a need in Ernesto to advocate for those being victimized and oppressed.
Ernesto views the Inca ruins at Machu Pichu, realizing the Spanish force utilized to wipe out this civilization, writing in his diary "Bloodless revolution-never". This indicates he knows any revolutionary change to unite all classes will involve bloodshed.
At the leper colony, Ernesto refused to wear gloves, believing there was little risk in transmission of the disease by contact, leprosy being a disease where victims are ostracized and secluded. The river separates the sick and the healthy but also symbolizes the divide between the powerful "haves" and the weaker "have nots". I think the pivotal point of the film is when he swims across the river to get to the leper colony, symbolizing that he is one with the oppressed and setting the course for his future.
Ernesto indicates "so much injustice" that he has viewed and experienced through his trip. His speech at the birthday party indicates his philosophy of no division of the people that will be his mantra for the future. All of these experiences molded his personality and influenced the leader he became.
From our class reading, though, it seems that Guevara developed such extremist values as he became more of a revolutionary. I think his goals initially were well founded but it seems he became quite a violent extremist as he became more of a revolutionary, lending truth to his proclamation of "Bloodless revolution-never".