Review- Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

 

Bardo is an interesting, deeply personal movie.

 The themes of malinchismo and complicated relationships with one’s personal identity are things that I understand and can relate to. The surreal aspects are very effective and give the film its unique quality and an epic sense of scale. The performances are phenomenal, and the cinematography is superb.

However, I find that the film is a bit amiss in two aspects.

The first is that a lot of the nearly-3-hour runtime is wasted in discussions on the themes of the movie, and arguments that repeat themselves in a surreal manner. The movie is more preoccupied with making itself clear than it is being fluid. It almost becomes two movies: one is a character-led series of discussions on migration and being Mexican, and the other is a surreal, fascinating piece of art that is a visual discussion on migration and being Mexican. It’s repetitive, and ultimately contributes to the egregious length of the film.

The other aspect is the Iñarritu of it all. A lot of one’s opinion on the film is inevitably dictated by one’s opinion of Iñarritu as a person and a filmmaker, since he poured so much of himself into the film and its protagonist, Silverio. Everything that’s interesting about the film is tinged with Iñarritu’s grandeur, pretentious nature, and ego, to the point that the movie almost frames him as the audience’s Messiah, a being that is in a movie that will always side with him. How much of this is irony and self-critique is debatable, considering Iñarritu’s well publicized character and even his reaction to the critics who lambasted the film in Venice.

Ultimately, the film is fascinating if only as an insight into the state of mind of one of Mexico’s great auteurs. It shares several similarities to Birdman, sans its scale. It is immensely complex. I recommend you all see it, because as I mentioned earlier, the film is dependent on one’s view of its immensely talented director.

Emoji verdict: 😬