Detestable 'Frida' Fails To Paint Good Picture

"Frida"

Salma Hayek's eyebrows were touching, but the movie "Frida" certainly was not.

A suck-umentary biopic set in Mexico City in the early- to mid-1900s, the movie attempts to communicate artistically the importance of the Mexican Revolution and its influence on painters Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera. Although the scenery is pretty to look at, the characters' personal lives are revealed in an unconvincing and boring way.

Maybe that's what happens when you base a movie on a book based on a person whose life is better remembered through paintings.

Another main problem is "events of equal weight," a concept that writing teachers encourage fourth graders to avoid.

Of all the hardships of Frida's life -- a bus accident that leaves her impaled by a metal rail, an unstable marriage, a miscarriage and the loss of her right leg and her health in general -- not one takes on any real significance because of their carelessly quick delivery and Frida's underdeveloped character.

Watching Hayek regain the use of her legs after the accident as she cautiously baby-steps toward her parents should have been an inspiring and miraculous moment -- but indifference to the character made the scene appear comical. Two scenes later Hayek dances around as if nothing had ever happened.

The film progresses both too fast and too slow, rushing plot advancement for a grueling two hours without stopping to assign importance.

A climax is as hard to identify as the meaning of David Lynch movies.

To overcompensate for Hayek's abysmal acting, the director had to find alternate points of interest, such as sex, name-dropping and a gratuitous monkey.

The film is unnecessarily saturated with sexuality. Frida's departure from the norm as an artist is poorly characterized by having her sleep with women rather than showing uniqueness through dialogue and presence.

While big names like Edward Norton, Antonio Banderas and Ashley Judd appear in the credits, these people might as well be extras as they surface for less than four minutes each. Ashley Judd really needs to practice her Spanish, but Norton delivers a solid several-second performance as Diego's art dealer.

Although it is tempting to condemn this movie as universally bad, there was one thing "Frida" did well. The film highlights the masochistic tendencies of too many men and women that cause them to devote themselves to other people who make them miserable.

Frida marries an old, overweight infidel and allows him to continuously cheat -- with her own sister on one occasion -- and still takes him back time after time. Although she slept with lots of women and Russian leader Leon Trotsky (played by Geoffrey Rush), it didn't have the same damaging effect on Diego. He was too busy being a Communist.

The film was simply not interesting or accurate, which puts it somewhere between historical and detestable.

If the real Frida Kahlo saw it, she'd eat her paintbrush.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.