By Mark Goldblatt on 2.1.05 @ 12:03AM
Robert Redford’s revolutionary hero dissed -- a disturbing footnote.
Nominations for this year's Academy Awards were announced last
week, and due to a technicality, Walter Salles's acclaimed The
Motorcycle Diaries isn't eligible for the foreign language
Oscar. Because Diaries was shot in several South American
countries, and financed primarily with U.S. dollars, it fell
between the cracks in a process which allows each foreign country
to nominate only one film.
Well, boo hoo.
The movie -- executive-produced by Robert Redford -- follows the
adventures of the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara on a motorcycle
odyssey across South America in 1951-52. It was during this trip,
the film suggests, that Che first came to grips with the social
injustices which would inspire his revolutionary conscience.
Despite its Oscar snub, the movie's critical and commercial
success raises the intriguing possibility of a sequel. Perhaps it
will pick up with Che's life after he joins forces with Fidel
Castro in Cuba. The potential material is rich: scenes of Che
presiding over the early firing squads after the Revolution, scenes
of Che establishing Cuba's "labor camp" system -- which was
eventually used to imprison not only dissidents but homosexuals and
AIDS victims. This latter Che, after all, was the one who wrote:
"Hatred as an element of struggle, unbending hatred for the enemy,
which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making
him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing
machine--this is what our soldiers must become …"
Then again, if Salles and Redford feels they've exhausted Che
with The Motorcycle Diaries, perhaps they might turn to
another subject for their next hagiography -- say, Mullah Omar.
Yes, I can see it now. The camera follows young Omar as he leads
Mujahideen forces against the Soviets in Afghanistan, as he orders
the destruction of the ancient statues of Buddha, as he establishes
the Taliban government, as he hooks up with Osama bin Laden.
Sounds like another hit to me.
Mark
Goldblatt (MGold57@aol.com) is the author of Africa Speaks,
a satire of black urban culture.
topics:
Satire, Africa
