Frida (2002)

Salma Hayek makes up for many bad movies with her fierce performance in this sumptuous film. Hayek plays the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous life with her unfaithful husband, muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina), drives the story of Frida. Maverick director Julie Taymor (Titus, the Broadway stage production of The Lion King) pulls out a wealth of gorgeous visuals to capture everything from the horrific bus accident that damaged Kahlo's spine to her and Rivera's trip to New York City, where Rivera's political leanings ruptured a commission from the Rockefeller family. Though the script spends too much time telling us how great Frida's painting is (rather than trusting in the power of the images themselves), Taymor's dynamic energy and Kahlo's forceful personality give Frida genuine emotional impact. The superb cast includes Roger Rees, Valeria Golino, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Antonio Banderas, and Edward Norton. --Bret Fetzer Amazon.com

A Wonderful Tribute to Frida Kahlo

It took me a number of years to finally rent and watch this film. I can only say that it was extremely well done, from the acting to the film score to the sets and the photography. The cast and crew of this movie - especially Salma Hayek and director Julie Taymor - deserve enormous praise for creating a film both masterful and compelling, in its story of this brilliant and talented woman. I had read that Ms. Hayek had spent a number of years trying to get this movie made. She did a wonderful job of bringing Frida Kahlo to the silver screen. I cannot imagine anyone else doing a better job of telling Frida's story to the rest of the world. This movie should be required viewing of every studio art major and aspiring artist. September 21, 2008

Outstanding quality

This dvd is in excellent condition and included the bonus material which I really enjoyed. Kudos to the seller - I have received damaged new dvds in the past from other companies & had to return them, this one is like new. September 7, 2008

"Frida" hits all the bases

This film is outstanding in so many ways: First, the musical score is a tremendously exciting! Second, the sets, the photography and use of color are artistic achievements on thir own. Third, the integration and melding of Kahlo's art work into a film is brilliant. Fourth, the acting, especially by Selma Hyak. is excellent and she really channels Frida. My only reservation about the film is that it should have been done in Spanish, with sub-titles
which would have been no problem for Selma. August 17, 2008

Great Movie

I adore this movie! It's a very interesting look in Frida's life. I really enjoyed the way her artwork was integrated into the movie. Salma Hayek was a perfect choice for the role - a strong and talented woman must be played by an equally strong and talented woman. I highly recommend this movie to anyone interested in her life or Mexican art in general. July 1, 2008

An Exotic Flower

I recently read an article in the New York Review of Books (May 15, 2008) analyzing the work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo that reminded me how much I liked this film, especially the performance by Ms. Hayek (who received an Oscar nomination for her efforts and who bore a striking resemblance to Frida in the film). The gist of the article, which included some biographical detail that is also explored here (her various severe mental and physical problems, his stormy relationship with her fellow artist and husband the world famous muralist Diego Rivera, her bisexuality), is that while much of Kahlo's artistic work reflected her strong psychic attachment to Mexico it also placed her squarely in the camp of naturalist painters.

I am not enough of an art devotee to make comment on that above mentioned critique, however, from the several paintings of Kahlo's that I have seen I would argue a little more toward the surrealist school that virtually every Mexican artist in the 1920's and 1930's drew from as they created their work. But enough of that argument for now. This film, in its own round about way, by presenting the various psychic pains (failure to have the children she desperately wanted, her topsy- turvy relationship with Rivera as she tries to make her own space in the art world and the underlying tensions of combining politics and artistic endeavor) gives a fairly decent gloss, for a commercial film, on the trials and tribulations of being a Mexican woman artist in the early part of the 20th century.

Of course, for this political junkie and admirer of Leon Trotsky the names Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera conjure up political connections as much as art. One of the strands working its way through the film is this couple's relationship with the exiled Trotsky when President Cardenas granted him a visa in 1937. All sources that I have read and photographs that I have seen have mentioned that Trotsky was smitten with Frida's exotic beauty (to the furor of his companion, Natalia). However, it was rather startling to watch the episode where Trotsky jumps into bed with Ms. Kahlo. I have noted elsewhere that the old time revolutionaries, especially the Russians, were extremely reticent about discussing personal sexual matters in their memoirs and autobiographies. Trotsky was no exception. Is that scene merely cinematic license or was Trotsky really just a dirty old man? You decide. I will concentrate of his political wisdom. And Frida's strangely exotic paintings. May 14, 2008

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