The Aviator, The Motorcycle Diaries

Leonardo DiCaprio plays legendary director and entrepreneur Howard Hughes in The Aviator.

The Aviator, Herald rating: * * * *

The Motorcycle Diaries, Herald rating: * * *

Two of the 20th century's more enigmatic characters - Howard Hughes and Che Guevara - are brought back to life in biopics that created a flutter at the box office and are much improved when presented, and explained for a younger generation, on DVD.

The title recalling only one of the great eccentric's gifts, The Aviator opens as Hughes (Leonardo diCaprio) arrives in LA in the 30s as a rich, handsome young man with an idea for a World War I flying flick, Hell's Angels.

It was the most expensive movie ever made, but it made money. And so did the other ones he made until the great dabbler lost interest in the movies and wanted to make planes. And so he did. And then he created his own airline.

With the money and the movies and the fame came the women: the movie stars of his time, Jean Harlow, Ava Gardner, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Russell, names that will mean nothing to a contemporary audience unless we say it's as if the man was dating all the women who play them wonderfully well, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Gwen Stefani and Faith Domergue.

And at the same time comes the spiralling descent into madness, into an obsessive-compulsive lifestyle that will overcome all the man's great gifts, as he creates the largest plane ever built, but descends into a germ-obsessed recluse.

The Oscar-winning movie is enhanced by the extras on the two-disc DVD, which explore the man and the movie-making.

The Affliction of Howard Hughes: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder explains research into the condition; a panel discussion, with Hughes' widow Terry Moore, discusses its effects on the people surrounding the patient.

DiCaprio and supporting actor Alan Alda take questions from an audience about the project, while director Martin Scorsese, editor Thelma Schoonmaker and producer Michael Mann lead the commentary.

Using archive material, The Role of Howard Hughes in Aviation History and a History Channel documentary profile the man's genuine achievements in flight.

A welter of short features is for those more interested in film-making, design and other crafts.

Exploring an equally controversial figure, The Motorcycle Diaries traces Che Guevara and Alberto Granado on their 13,000km road, river, desert and mountain trip from Argentina to Peru in 1952. Guevara, of course, went on to become the T-shirt and poster boy for leftist revolution in Cuba, Africa and South America.

At the time of this adventure Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal, Y Tu Mama Tambien) is a medical student and Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna) is a biochemist.

Both are young, middle-class, naive and neither has been out of their native Argentina. Director Walter Salles makes the most of spectacular scenery - deserts, lakes, rivers, mountains and the occasional road - as the two charm and con their way around a continent.

They will stay at a leper colony in Peru, meet farmers forced off their land, side with poorly paid workers against a sadistic boss. By the end of the journey, Salles, poster boy for South American film-making following his Central Station, will have tried to convince us that Guevara has undergone a political conversion and sees a mission to overthrow the juntas and oligarchies on behalf of the under-classes.

Perhaps, or the road trip to death in Bolivia could have been another schoolboy adventure.

Salles' and Garcia Berna's admiration for their hero is obvious in the DVD's cast and crew interviews, while there's a brief reminiscence from the real Alberto Granado, now a doctor in Cuba. The Coming Of Age Of A Cultural Icon tries to separate myth and truth and piece together how Guevara became a legend, and a fascinating behind-the-scenes feature shows Salles' street-film-making style - guerrilla theatre, perhaps? Finally, there are three deleted scenes.

* The Aviator and The Motorcycle Diaries are out now on dvd and video