Movie Journals |
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Frida
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Frida Frida (123 minutes), to give a feel of the country in which most of the movie takes place, begins with a peek into an expansive cactus garden with lizards moseying about in a vibrantly painted courtyard. Within the first 6 minutes, I decided that I would like the film. Starting with the end of the story, the opening scenes of a bed being carried onto the back of a pick-up truck are particularly intriguing when we realize that a woman is in the bed. Of course, we must continue to watch to find out why she’s in a bed on a pick-up truck. This movie is more complicated than some I have viewed for this class. Therefore, I had to rely on my watch, rather than my instincts, to find the plot points. And right on time they came. Plot point 1 comes at 25 minutes into the film when Diego tells Frida that her work is good enough, and that she should continue to paint. At first I assumed that her life changing accident was the first plot point, but although the event certainly changed her life, it did not spin the story of this film. That she will continue painting sets her on her new path with Diego. Additionally, I first assumed that the second plot point came when Frida discovers her sister having sex with Diego. Again, although the event caused Frida to leave Diego, it didn’t truly spin the story. The actual second plot point comes when Leon Trotsky arrives and Diego asks Frida to take him in and provide him refuge (minute 84). This event not only brings the beginning of a reunion between Diego and Frida but also turns the story in a new direction, providing a deeper look at the political and philosophical ideas of the time and developing a deeper relationship between Diego and Frida. The most memorable line from this film comes after Frida walks in on Diego with her sister. She tells him, “There have been two accidents in my life, the trolley and you. You have been by far the worst.” Certainly, I can not, and hope to never be able to, relate to Frida’s physical pain, but I have felt about a man the way she felt about her husband, both the pain and the joy, and in the end she found a way to express what I had never been able to express. Her life is a remarkable one, one that instructs us to grab life by the throat and rip flesh. Karen Walker 13 October 2003 |