Before Che, the revolutionary in Cuba and Bolivia, Guevara was a medical student living with his family in Buenos Aires. And it is that Che we meet in "The Motorcycle Diaries," a different kind of road movie, from director Walter Salles of "Central Station" fame.

Based on Guevara's diaries, discovered long after his death, "The Motorcycle Diaries" follows Guevara, played by Gael Garcia Bernal ("Amores Perros," "Y Tu Mama Tambien"), and his pal Alberto Granado (who is still alive and makes a brief appearance in the film), played by Rodrigo De la Serna, as they travel across South America in 1952 on a motorcycle.

Guevara is a loving, deep thinking, shy young man, one semester away from his medical degree. Granado is a pharmacy school graduate with a taste for women and adventure.

Despite the misgivings of some of his family, Che and his pal take off on their 1939 bike and head south, to the tip of the continent before heading back up along the west coast, hoping to make it to Venezuela in time to celebrate Granado's 30th birthday.

Along the way, they encounter all kinds of people and while Granado is engaged in a constant quest for sexual adventure, Guevara is slowly becoming aware of the injustices faced by South Americans in every country and of the artificiality of national borders. He meets struggling peasants forced from their land, poor people who must leave their families behind to beg for dangerous work in the mines and others eking an existence from poverty-stricken areas.

While the politics of the film are pretty subtle, it's not really about the political Guevara, as much as the transitional period in his life when his political consciousness begins to germinate.

Bernal and De la Serna are marvelously cast in their respective roles, with the former deftly portraying the shy, but strong willed man who can't dance to save his life and the latter boisterously carousing, but rising to the challenges that the pair encounters.

Beautifully photographed, "The Motorcycle Diaries" will likely introduce places - from deserts to lush mountain landscapes -- to us that most Americans have never seen or even imagined.

If there's a flaw with the script it's that perhaps Guevara's characterization is a little too reverential. Other than two left feet and some asthma, Che appears almost saintly and one half expects to see a faint halo appear by the film's end.

But with its great scenery, fine performances, on the road joie di vivre and a very big heart, it's hard not to pin some Oscar hopes on this fine film, regardless of what one thinks of Guevara and his legacy.

"The Motorcycle Diaries" opens Friday, Oct. 8 at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.