Directed by Julie Taymor, ''Frida'' (2002) is a gorgeous film about a fascinating Mexican artist. Artistically, it's a masterpiece, brilliantly mixing art, sexuality, lesbianism and feminism in an explosive and unique fashion. Politically, however, the film avoids any complexities or contradictions. The crimes committed during the Soviet Revolution are never mentioned. The film never deals with Siqueiros's attempted assassination of Trotsky. And we never learn that Kahlo betrayed Trotsky after his death, and became a hard-line Stalinist. But the non-political aspects of the film are handled magnificently. As Catharine Tunnacliffe points out in her film review, Kahlo was a dramatic, often sensual painter whose paintings reflect her preoccupations with fertility, barrenness, androgyny and death. Her life was a riot of dramatic events, beginning with a horrific bus crash in 1925 when she was 18. Salma Hayek (nominated for an Oscar) plays Kahlo fearlessly, pulling off the neat trick of disappearing completely into her character, and being helped along by her extraordinary physical resemblance to the artist. Most remarkable in the film are the superb montage sequences detailing Kahlo and Rivera's visit to America, or "Gringolandia" as she called it in a letter. Using vintage documentary footage, Taymor creates a moving collage that has a flavour of Russian constructivist poster art.
