Frida, Natureza Viva

I bought this one while I was in Mexico, still trying to calm down the excitement over seeing Frida's house. I wouldn't compare it to the Hollywood version of Frida because, while both of them are excellent, Naturaleza viva adds something very authentic, very very Frida-like to the story. I agree, this movie is probably not for those not familiar with Frida's biography or the political events that took place during her lifetime. My favorite part was definitely the producer's ability to capture Frida's pain - the driving force of her entire existence. Ofelia Medina portrays Frida the way she was. Bold, unbreakable and, probably, somewhat insane. Like all artists. The movie is less dramatic than its Hollywood counterpart, but it succeeds in immortalizing Frida's personality. There's no need for a better-developed plot because, really, this film is about Frida the thinker, the artist, the lover. It's a window into her mind.

I have watched Salma Hayek's movie before this one, so at the beginning I thought it was a terrible movie. When I was half way through it I changed my mind. Few words are spoken in this movie and many scenes are unrelated, and it was intentionally made this way. It doesn't want to provide us with a lot of information about Frida, Diego Rivera and Mexico at the time, but rather show us Frida's feelings in different situations; how she loved her father, wanted to have a baby,became tremendously happy when receiving the painting colors in the hospital etc.. The music helps us to understand and apprehend these feelings. Yet her character is poorly represented and so is her relationship with her husband. We see here every once in a while in somebody's else's arms, flirting with Trotsky and kissing some lady, but I really don't understand why. The movie was also a little bit boring. I give it 5 out of 10.

Mexican-born director Paul Leduc's 1984 look at the life of prominent Latin American painter Frida Kahlo, Frida, Naturaleza Viva, is a slow-paced, quiet, and poetic film told through image and song rather than narrative plot. Vastly different from the Julie Traymore version of Frida of 2002, a standard biopic that focused on her tempestuous relationships, it is told through fragmentary accounts of different events in Frida Kahlo's life using impressionistic flashbacks from her deathbed. Ofelia Median is perfect as Frida, fully capturing her passion, fighting spirit, and sensuality as well as her painful self-absorption as revealed in her numerous self portraits and disturbing depictions of body parts.

The film depicts Frida's painful physical condition as the result of a bus accident when she was eighteen, her radical politics, bisexuality, miscarriage, the amputation of her leg, and her relationships with Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, and David Siquieros. It omits, however, any discussion of Rivera's womanizing, her divorce and remarriage, drug use and drinking, or her embrace of Stalinism in her later years. The end result is a hauntingly beautiful but incomplete portrait of a remarkable woman that makes you want to run to the nearest bookstore to learn more about her life and art.

After watching Frida for my Spanish class, I learned a lot about the history of Frida and what exactly her trade mark meant. The movie displays the life of Frida and what she meant to the Mexican culture. Through her artwork, her life with her husband and her illness is all portrayed. The time period was during the depression and world wars. A lot of her life during the movie is seen through a mirror signifying her life was shattered in the end. A lot of Mexican culture is shown through her husband, Diego, as well as Frida. The lady who plays Frida in the movie looks exactly like the original and does an awesome job being Frida. This movie has a lot to offer. It demonstrates the Mexican history, culture, and life of others during this time period. I would recommend using this film to teach students about Frida as well as the culture and history of Mexico.

So far this is the best film made from Frida Kahlo's life and work, with an outstanding performance by wonderful actress and leftist activist Ofelia Medina. Ofelia was the force behind the project and should be credited as the single person who helped to rediscover Kahlo in the 1980s. The artist was known, of course, but she had not been turned into an icon of rebellion and hight art by then, so Ofelia was able to film in Kahlo's blue house in Coyoacán (where children could play, since nobody cared, before it was turned into a museum) and use the real paintings. She had asked filmmaker Paul Leduc to direct, but the only funding she got was 800 dollars from producer Manuel Barbachano Ponce who, after seeing the rushes, wanted everybody to sell their rights, arguing the footage had no value. Medina and Leduc were not fooled. I still remember the reaction when the motion picture opened at La Habana film festival, winning prizes as Best Film and Actress. With almost no dialogue, through songs, vivid colors, and Medina's body, everything important and meaningful about Kahlo's art, pain and passion was conveyed. The actress first studied dance, and then trained in "panic theatre", under the guidance of "guru" Alejandro Jodorowsky during the 1960s. Her motion picture is a milestone, the flower of the so-called New Latin American cinema during the 1980s, and an important statement for the creative freedom of the filmmakers of Spanish-speaking American countries.