The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo
by Amy Stechler

The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo
List Price: $24.99
Our Price: $13.69
You Save: $11.30 (45%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, Lila Downs, Rita Moreno
Director: Amy Stechler
Brand: Paramount
Cinematographer: Buddy Squires
Editor: Amy Stechler
Producer: Amy Stechler
Writer: Amy Stechler
Producer: Maia Harris
Producer: Victor Zamudio Taylor
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs Paramount

Movie Reviews of The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

Movie Review: An Exotic Flower
Summary: 4 Stars

The last time that the name of the Mexican artist extraordinaire, Frida Kahlo, was mentioned in this space was in a review/ commentary of a commercial movie done about her life, "Frida" and an article in the New York Review of Books (May 15, 2008) analyzing her work The article had reminded how much I liked that film, especially the performance by Ms. Hayek (who received an Oscar nomination for her efforts and who bore a striking resemblance to Frida in the film). I have remained fascinated by Kahlo's art (and by her life, intertwined as it was with the fates of the revolutionary artist Diego Rivera, and for a short time, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky). In the search for more information I ran across this PBS production that goes into much greater detail about her trials and tribulations as a person, an artist, a lover and cultural icon.

The substance of the documentary includes much biographical detail missing in the commercial film that as is almost always true with such commercial efforts spent much more time on her troubled relationship with Diego Rivera and her physical and mental problems that resulted from a severe, life-threatening accident when she was a teenager. This film moreover placed Frida's life in the context of the exceptional cultural milieu that developed as a result of the bloody Mexican revolutionary period from 1910-20, the breaking up the old colonial mentality with its emphasis on European culture and the dominant role of Catholic Church. Additionally, it addressed Frida's various romantic exploits (both male and female including with the above-mentioned Trotsky), the relationship between her art and her inner physical and mental turmoil and her struggle, under the weight of Rivera's fame, to gain recognition as an artist in her own right.

I mentioned in that previous review that the "New York Review" article placed much of Kahlo's artistic work, as reflected in her strong physical and psychic attachment to Mexico, squarely in the camp of naturalist painters. I noted there that I was not enough of an art devotee to make comment on that critique, however, from the several paintings of Kahlo's that I have seen up close that I would argue a little more toward the surrealist school that virtually every Mexican artist in the 1920's and 1930's drew from as they created their work. The various commentaries presented here only make me feel more certain that she was closer to that school than the naturalist school. Frida was, in the words of the French `high priest' of surrealism, Andre Breton a natural self-trained surrealist. That comment hits the mark.

But enough of that argument for now. This film, in its own way, especially through the comments of the "talking heads" that almost by definition are a part of a PBS production, by presenting Frida's various psychic pains (failure to have the children she desperately wanted, her topsy- turvy relationship with Rivera as she tries to make her own space in the art world and the underlying tensions of combining politics and artistic endeavor) gives a very fine gloss on the trials and tribulations of being a Mexican woman artist in the early part of the 20th century.

Note: Another impetus for my interest in Frida is that for this political junkie and admirer of Leon Trotsky the names Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera conjure up political connections as much as art. One of the strands that briefly is given notice here is this couple's relationship with the exiled Trotsky when Mexican President Cardenas granted him a visa in 1937. All sources that I have read and photographs that I have seen have mentioned that Trotsky was smitten with Frida's exotic beauty (to the furor of his long time companion `wife', Natalia). I have noted elsewhere that the old time revolutionaries, especially the Russians, were extremely reticent about discussing personal sexual matters in their memoirs and autobiographies. Trotsky was no exception. Apparently, according to this film, Trotsky and Frida had a brief affair. That clears up a question that I had about a scene in the commercial film. In any case I can now, as always, concentrate on Trotsky's political wisdom. And Frida's strangely exotic paintings.

Summary of The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo

Never before has the extraordinary life of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo been framed in relation to the full spectrum of the historical and cultural influences that created her. The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo explores the 20th-century icon who became an international sensation in the worlds of modern art and radical politics. Among those interviewed in the documentary are Carlos Fuentes and Carlos Monsivais. The film is narrated by Rita Moreno; Mexican singer Lila Downs is the voice of Frida Kahlo.

Documentary DVD Video

DVD Video
Movies most talked about in Loving our neighbors - Mexicans
In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, Pre-Columbian to the Present ImageIn the Language of Kings: An Anthology of Mesoamerican Literature, Pre-Columbian to the Present
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2002-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.22
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Tree of Life ImageThe Tree of Life
Release date: 2005-10-10; DVD
Best price: $26.95
Price in other shops: $39.95
Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Fifth Edition ImageMexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, Fifth Edition
by Michael D. Coe, Rex Koontz
Thames & Hudson; Published: 2002-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.19
Price in other shops: $22.50
The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico ImageThe Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico
by Miguel Leon-Portillo
Beacon Press; Published: 2007-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.65
Price in other shops: $19.00
The Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript ImageThe Codex Borgia: A Full-Color Restoration of the Ancient Mexican Manuscript
by Gisele Diaz, Alan Rodgers
Dover Publications; Published: 1993-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops: $20.95
Amores Perros ImageAmores Perros
LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2001-09-25; DVD
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops: $9.98
Mexico ImageMexico
Release date: 2001-04-24; Music CD
Best price: $9.73
Price in other shops: $15.98
The Mexico City Reader (THE AMERICAS) ImageThe Mexico City Reader (THE AMERICAS)
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2004-07-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.02
Price in other shops: $19.95
G.I. Jesus ImageG.I. Jesus
WESTLAKE ENTERTAINMENT INC; Release date: 2008-03-13; DVD
Best price: $8.70
Price in other shops: $19.98
Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border ImageAcross the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Anchor; Published: 1993-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.23
Price in other shops: $13.95
Similar DVD Movies
Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo ImageFrida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo
by Marie Pierre Colle, Guadalupe Rivera
Clarkson Potter; Published: 1994-09-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.77
Price in other shops: $37.50
Frida Kahlo ImageFrida Kahlo
by Hayden Herrera, Victor Zamudio-Taylor, Elizabeth Carpenter, Frida Kahlo
Walker Art Center; Published: 2007-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.99
Price in other shops: $49.95
Frida by Frida, 2nd Expanded Edition ImageFrida by Frida, 2nd Expanded Edition
by Frida Kahlo
Editorial RM; Published: 2007-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $25.00
Frida ImageFrida
Release date: 2002-10-22; Music CD
Best price: $10.88
Price in other shops: $18.98
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo ImageFrida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo
by Hayden Herrera
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops: $24.95
Frida Kahlo - La Cinta que Envuelve una Bomba (The Ribbon That Ties the Bomb) ImageFrida Kahlo - La Cinta que Envuelve una Bomba (The Ribbon That Ties the Bomb)
Release date: 2003-06-10; DVD
Best price: $3.89
Price in other shops: $14.98
Frida Kahlo: The Paintings ImageFrida Kahlo: The Paintings
by Hayden Herrera
Harper Perennial; Published: 1993-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.90
Price in other shops: $34.95
The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait ImageThe Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
by Frida Kahlo
"Harry N. Abrams, Inc."; Published: 2005-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.79
Price in other shops: $24.95
Biography - Frida Kahlo (A&E DVD Archives) ImageBiography - Frida Kahlo (A&E DVD Archives)
Release date: 2005-07-26; DVD
Best price: $3.29
Price in other shops: $24.95
Frida ImageFrida
Release date: 2003-06-10; DVD
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops: $14.99
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners