An enrapturing endeavour by Carla Gutierrez, ‘Frida’ (the 2024 documentary, not to be confused with the 2002 biopic, starring Salma Hayek by the same name) documents the quest of prolific artist Frida Kahlo, as she seeks out, and eventually gains her individuality and agency through her art. It also delves into her politics, painting her as a fearless and passionate woman of the soil and someone who was a free spirit at heart till the end, even when the world felt completely unfair or overwhelming to live in.
The use of immersive animation to bring Kahlo’s intricate art to life feels reminiscent to similar cinematic odes to artists such as its predecessor 'Loving Vincent' (2017), and the voiceover by Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero breathes life into Frida’s written word- A collection of archived/preserved journal entries that are narrated verbatim and which are just as poetic and outspoken as the artwork of the unapologetically sassy artist who lived life on her own terms, determined to not let her physical weaknesses drag her down but rather embolden her. Her bold attitude is further showcased in the diary passages wherein she pens her thoughts on a low tolerance for unnecessary advice, her loathing for the self-serving proud peacocks whom she is surrounded by a dime a dozen during a miserable sojourn in the US with husband and fellow artist Diego Rivera, particularly a disdain for the capitalist and classist nature of the cliques that she feels surrounded (or rather smothered) by there. Her first miscarriage also occurs during the trip and thus she feels even more overcome by a sense of suffocation and loneliness in the already strange and big, booming, fast paced city of New York.
Much like the subject of her documentary, Frida who connects or attaches the colours from her childhood (more specifically the memory of her father's paint box which she longed to one day be bequeathed with) to certain emotions that drive her, debutante filmmaker Gutierrez too shares an akin ability of connecting scenarios and thus deriving a new meaning, and in constructing an analogy centred on artists losing their identity, as she draws comparison to Frida’s innermost yearning to run away from the ugliness of capitalist America and head back to her pure, innocent and humble homeland Mexico where her and Rivera’s ideologies are shared rather than shunned/repressed/expected to be toned down, with the struggle of the Mexican revolutionists craving freedom from imperialism.
This thread of correlating events lasts throughout the documentary as Guiterrez further highlights how the unjust and unfair nature of a freakish tram accident that impaired Frida also incited her own craving for freedom and thus in joining the explosive Communist movement. Other such connections include visuals of firecrackers exploding, which signify the spark that’s immediately ignited as a young firecracker-esque Frida who was long ignored and who rued the popular crowd joins the rebellious young men at her school who encourage her cross-dressing, rule-breaking and innovative self, thus revelling in her first taste of a true community. This latter sequence of events also foreshadows Frida’s deep-seethed disdain for capitalistic individuals who judge one for their fashion sense, ability to keep up with all that's trendy, and as a result appear dumb and superficial to her as she is more so drawn to intellect.
The documentary eventually concludes with a more endearing outlook on the hailed artist’s tumultuous romance with Rivera, as their once ruptured bond shows signs of hope, healing and most importantly placation in the latter’s own quest to better himself from a selfish, skirt chasing manchild of a husband to a more mellow, selfless and mature man who is keen to do the bare minimum and take up responsibility in nursing his former wife, thus showering an ailing Frida with the devotion she craved in her final years as her past injuries catch up with a petite, fragile body.
Overall, ‘Frida’ must be applauded for acting as an apt celebration of the artist herself and the one life that she lived to her best abilities, as well as a lesson on being the better person, on cutting toxic ties and walking away when deprived of one’s individual desires and most importantly in determining one’s self worth, thus forging a path with much ‘Coraje’.