The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

The realisation that science could be used to satisfy the material needs of the many---not just to intellectually gratify the few---had been a major innovation. Scientists and engineers---not poets or revolutionaries---are called upon to build spacecraft, hospitals, and cities. By contrast, the practice of calling upon experts---in addition to passionate demagogues---in matters of politics and economics has not yet universally caught on. Among the reasons for this omission may be the tyranny of special interests and the popular illusion that passion replaces expertise in matters that (one thinks) one encounters in one's daily life. Passion and empathy may be necessary to lead a social-design team, but they cannot replace expertise.

The motion picture is protracted and schematic. Its protagonists lack the charisma of the figures they are supposed to grow into by the end of their journey.