Frida. Viva la Vida

Engaging and stunningly shot documentary on Frida Kahlo.

Firstly, if you have the opportunity to see the PBS documentary on The Life & Times of Frida Kahlo narrated by Mexican singer, Lila Downs, that was produced in 2005, do so because it is far more superior to this one.

For me, the modern poetic reconstructions of Frida were badly done: removing her gown in a bedroom that has a TV in it? A television set? Really? Mexico City in the 1930s & 40s? Too many shots of modern day Mexico City and too little archival footage and photographs. There is a lot of filler footage in this (70%), much of it doesn't capture the era that she lived in and has little to do with Frida, apart from being film in Mexico. It is more suited to Mexico travelogue. Modern Mexicans dancing to electronica during a carnival in Tehuantepec?

On the plus side, there's an interesting tour of the present day Frida Kahlo museum and the outside of the other Kahlo/Rivera houses. The Mexican interviews, especially the one with the photographer Graciela Iturbide (she deserves a documentary of her own) bemused how Frida has become a feminist icon in the US when she was supported and submissive to her more famous and wealthy husband, Diego Rivera.

I'm really not sure why a very sombre looking Asia Argento, with her thick Italian accent, was asked to narrate this, unless it was made for the Italian market. There are plenty of Mexican actresses who speak English who could have done it: Was Adriana Barraza or Cecilia Suárez not available?

Overall, it feels very disjointed and definitely not the best documentary on Frida.