Frida: Naturaleza Viva – (1984, Spanish, subtitles) This film opens and ends with Frida’s coffin draped in the red flag of the Communist Party. Had I not first seen the American production, I could not have followed the story of this strange telling. Vignettes of her life and paintings, like memories revealed out of chronological order, many scenes silent except for a folk song, a popular tune, a bit of conversation, or a song celebrating the revolution, emphasize the visual at expense of a coherent narrative or dramatic performance.

Frida appears with a cane, in a wheelchair, or bedridden throughout most of the movie. In addition to being crippled by the trolley accident, she had polio. Diego had been to Paris to study painting before the 1910 Mexican Revolution and learned French with which he conversed with Trotsky and then translated for Frida. Trotsky wrote her a letter proposing a romantic liaison. Diego was voted out of the Communist Party for his connection with Stalin’s traitorous opponent. Her politics are on display as much as her art.

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Copyright © 2007 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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