Salma Hayek, the sultry Mexican sex siren who hit big time with ‘Desperado’ in the late 90’s stars in this Oscar and Golden Globe award winning ***Frida***. Directed by Julie Taymor and produced by Salma Hayek, Frida is a biopic that tells the story of celebrated and controversial Mexican artist Frida Kahlo who channeled the pain of her crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.
`Frida Kahlo, ’ the cult artist born of a German Jewish father and a Mexican mother, grew up in Mexico City at a time when it was a hotbed of exile and intrigue. The film takes you through the life of Frida as a little girl, to her marriage with world-renowned muralist Diego Rivera, her accident and her life as a cripple. It explores the relationship between Frida the artist, Frida the cripple and Frida the wife of muralist Rivera.
The film took ten years in the making, the project often being slashed. Jennifer Lopez was to perform the title role of Frida during the first draft of the film, however a decade later it was finally Salma Hayek who did justice to the role under the tutelage of ace woman director Julie Taymor. Taymor repeatedly uses Kahlo’s paintings as a launching point for the action: She literally brings them to life. At times, the imagery may seem like a contact point, but the effect imaginative. Similarly Julie keeps the political issues of the era front and center, perfectly integrating them with the tumultuous relationship at the story’s core. Thus if for no other reason, `Frida’ is worth seeing for the marvelous sense of history it provides, chronicling the turbulent period of the 1920’s and 1930’s when socialism was the `in’ cause for the art world to rally around.
Hayek’s portrayal of Kahlo is a very powerful one, especially from a sex siren who herself put her being referred to as a ‘bomb’, on Actors Studio on the tube. There are moments in the film when you don’t feel like you’re watching an actress recreating the key events of a famous person’s history; you feel like you’re watching the artist come to life before you. Hayek, brings such infectious joy and breathless energy to the role, such palpable drama and pathos, she’s positively magnetic. Alfred Molina who plays muralist Rivera, Frida’s husband gives able support to Hayek raising Hayek’s performance many folds.
The movie is a must watch for all those who prefer serious cinema as also for the artist and art lovers who could be inspired by Julie’s portrait of an artist, FRIDA.