The film, based on the Motorcycles Diaries book by Ernesto Guevara, which world-premiered to a standing ovation at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, follows an inspiring journey of self-discovery and traces the youthful origins of a revolutionary heart. In the Motorcycle Diaries book summary, the rich and complex human and social topography of the Latin American continent is unveiled in all its glory as two friends experience life at its fullest. The film from the Motorcycle Diaries book, directed by Walter Salles (Central Station, Behind the Sun), is adapted by José Rivera from the journals of two real-life young Argentines, Alberto Granado and Ernesto Guevara de la Serna - the latter of whom would become "El Che."

Of the film created from the Motorcycle Diaries book, Redford comments, "The Motorcycle Diaries seemed like the perfect way to collaborate with Walter, especially since Che Guevara can be such a tricky subject. I knew Walter would handle the story with lyricism and humanity rather than focusing on the politics of who Ernesto would later become." As you can tell in the Motorcycle Diaries book summary, the director of the movie was already quite familiar with the book when the producers approached him to helm the film. In the film, to balance the film's portrayal of the two main characters in the Motorcycle Diaries book, Rivera drew from both Guevara's travel diary and Granado's own account of the trip. Unlike The Motorcycle Diaries book summary, Granado's version is not a memoir. Rather, it contains the actual entries documenting his observations on the road. The immediacy of Granado's journal was instrumental in not only reconstructing the events that took place within its pages, but also the personality of the charismatic man who wrote it. Check out the Motorcycle Diaries book to find out more on the movie.