Frida Kahlo: The Ribbon That Ties The Bomb is a short documentary about the Mexican artist who was featured in the recent Salma Hayek movie. Frida was born during the uncertain times of the early 1900's to a pretty well off dad who took photographs for the Mexican government. Political winds shifted and as a young girl, Frida learned a lot of lessons about wealth and power, such as how fleeting they could be. She also learned about artistic expression while at school and fell for an old artist, Diego Rivera. The show spent a lot of time looking at the ups and downs of her marriage to Diego as he was a major influence on her expressionistic style. The show also spent a little bit of time on Frida's lesbian relationships and communist leanings, but the entire thing was far too short to go into any great detail on any aspect of the documentary.

Okay, I haven't seen the mainstream movie yet and think this might've made a decent extra for it but as a standalone product, it lacked much to recommend. You'd get more depth from a late night cable infomercial and it barely scratched the surface of Frida's wild life, especially for her times. Sure, it's obvious why this is being released at this time: everyone likes to cash in on a mainstream feature if at all possible. It's probably only fair since this documentary is rumored to have been the basis for generating interest in the feature movie (the movie came out in 2002 while the documentary came out in 1992). It definitely leaves you wanting to learn more about the homely lesbian communist and her tortured art which is recognized worldwide as important to feminism.

So, is Frida Kahlo: The Ribbon That Ties The Bomb any good? Does it invoke thought? Does it make you want to learn more about art that for many of us, myself included, is generally disturbing and gross? To be honest, even my more curious side has its limits. Had the feature film not starred the hot looking and talented Salma Hayek, I doubt very much that many mainstream moviegoers would've given it a second glance. Like I said before, it'd have been a good extra for the feature but was far too limited in scope to be really good. In a sense, it was like a snapshot of one of Frida's paintings where you'd really want to see the painting itself. As such, I'd suggest this as a Rent It.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame and looked low budget. The colors were often weak, with fleshtones being off and bleeding present too often. In fact, the dvd itself wouldn't play on three players (an RCA, an offbrand player, and a computer player) and had a glued on piece of paper as the picture side of the dvd.

Sound: The sound was in monotone Spanish and was generally clear if unremarkable. Optional English subtitles were also present.

Extras: none

Final Thoughts: Frida Kahlo led a life that could be characterized as being ahead of its time and way out of the ordinary. Even the least observant person, upon looking at most of Frida's later works, would come to the conclusion that the gal was in a lot of pain-both physical and psychological-with how she expressed herself in her paintings. if that's the type of thing you want to see, this will be a good start for you. Be forewarned that there are a number of books that'll give you the detail this documentary lacks, and this limits it's appeal.