Frida

This is the story of two early 20th century Mexcian artists. It is also the story of artistic temperament and the turbulent relationship between these two people as it unfolds and is affected by the history and politics of the period. The entire film includes Fridas relationship with Diego Riviera so it is as much his story as it is hers, albeit from her point of view. Regardless, they had a profound affect on each others life and their art. Fridas work was a style referred to as primitive, using broad, simple yet intense color areas and it was primarily personal in content. She had a penchant for fantastic surreal imagery. Diego sought to produce a national art form in murals that depicted revolutionary themes. Both artists wanted their art to represent their Mexican heritage.

This film is a creative non-fiction biography of Frida Kahlos life beginning at the Mexico City National Preparatory School at age 18 until her death in 1954. It is based on the book by Hayden Herrera, which has gone through six editions, the latest in October, 2002. I also discovered that Fridas own diary (1944-1954) and letters were published in 1995. I have no idea how accurate the film story is, but regardless, she was a fascinating character who led an amazing life and this film was a wonderful dramatization of her life.

Since this is a biography, it cant really be analyzed from a story line point of view. However it is nonetheless engaging and it does represent the life style that artists thought they must live in order to be valid as artists. The 1930s was the jazz age, and the twenty-somethings believed that freedom of spirit could be achieved with alcohol and indiscriminate sex. Artists pushed this to the limit.

The story begins with Frida as a schoolgirl; it goes on to include a tragic and horrific accident that required some 35 medical surgeries, her marriage to Diego, who was 21 years her senior, and their life together and apart.

Julie Taymor directed the film. She previously won two Tony awards for her direction and costume design of the stage production The Lion King (1998). This is her second film.

Salma Hayek plays Frida. Her career began in Mexican TV circa 1988. She is one of two Mexican actresses who have been successful in Hollywood. I saw her in Dogma (1999) and Traffic (2000). Hayek is multilingual speaks four languages.

Alfred Molina plays Diego. He was born in the U.K. and his 25-year career began with a film debut in The Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and then recently included roles in Magnolia (1999) and Chocolat (2000).

Goeffrey Rush plays Trotsky. It took me a while to recall that Rush impressed me with his role in The Banger Sisters (2002) and did a great job as the mentally ill pianist in Shine (1996).

A strong supporting cast included Antonio Banderas in a bit part and Edward Norton also in a bit part as Nelson Rockefeller.

I was impressed with the cinematographic transitions morphed from Fridas paintings to her action images and vice versa.

Reviewed July 7, 2003