ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 focuses on the body as a symbol of youth and a carrier of moral and political values in Salles’ film. Its ideological importance springs from the mind–body inversion typical of the foco-theory of the Cuban Revolution, incarnated by Guevara as an exemplary guerrilla fighter. Salles’ depiction of the body as a site of desire and vulnerability deconstructs the heroic image of the steeled body of the foco theory. Moreover, it opens up the film to a more ‘humanist’ interpretation of the historic Guevara, whose double bind with the world of medicine – as both a medical student and an asthma-patient – allows him to identify with the leper patients in the film. Special attention is paid to the swimming scene and the Oscar-winning song ‘Al otro lado del río’, composed and performed by Jorge Drexler.
