By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo.
The narrative may seem like a raw and harsh retelling of the artist’s story; however, Frida’s numerous illnesses are handled with the utmost respect throughout the film…. Art allowed her to process pain, reclaim her missing identity outside of what illness turned her into and find meaning in her experiences.”
Hola Frida, (stylized ¡Hola Frida!, 2025), based on the captivating Sophie Faucher’s book Frida, c’est moi (2017), scripted by Anne Bryan, Sophie Faucher and André Kadi and co-directed by Karine Vezina and André Kadi, stuns as an animated biopic of the great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in her early childhood years. The story centers on a sparking and vibrant little girl from Coyoacán, Mexico, who struggles not just with being and thinking differently but with life’s trials worsened by her illness and numerous physical challenges derived from them, made evident with a particularly cruel hand that nature dealt her as she suffered from polio, one of the most disabling ailments in the 20th century. The narrative may seem like a raw and harsh retelling of the artist’s story; however, Frida’s numerous illnesses are handled with the utmost respect throughout the film, they are depicted just as they are and affect people in real life. It is a thorough depiction of the discomfort disability creates in a person’s life as they must deal not just with the painful and unexpected outcomes of illness but with a shift of people’s perception and behavior around them in the form of patronizing and infantilizing comments or manners of violence and abuse. In Frida’s case, disability earned her teasing from her classmates and the nickname of ‘chicken leg’ just being a little child.
Through inventive sequences painted in bright, joyful and glaring colors inspired by Mexican heritage and Frida’s cultural roots, the film keeps depicting illness and its defeating and devastating consequences through a captivating character called ‘La muerta’, similar to the legendary figure of the reaper who comes and takes people’s souls when they are deemed to die. Frida, even as a little girl, is haunted by the enigmatic figure who lingers at her bedside and reminds her that her time is short. As a coping mechanism, Frida takes upon herself to create an imaginary friend who aids her in her most troublesome moments; through the most colorful, surreal and dream-like sequences, she provides sage advice and the comfort she so desperately needs, pointing that it was only fear dragging her down and later, saving her from the skeletal ghoul that claimed her life.
Adding to this, we are shown how, since her childhood, her facing various forms of sexist Mexican parochialism, such as her own mother prohibiting her to wear pants and men’s suits, which threatened to break her creative spirit and turn her into one of the bunch, all of which she faced through great resilience, an unmatchable courageous personality and imagination. Her escape is consistently through the power of art and the strength it provides as it gives her a means of comfort and an ability to transform the struggles life was offering her into beautiful forms of artistic expression. Art allowed her to process pain, reclaim her missing identity outside of what illness turned her into and find meaning in her experiences. This is remarkably noticeable when her father, who photographed her in all moments, even in her most painful ones, taught her that art can ‘shine a light on the sad moments of our lives’.
Hola Frida is a sensitive and heartfelt ode to a little girl who, despite life’s many difficulties, decided to create beauty and share it with the world. It is an incredible story of resilience and celebration of artistic expression, creativity and imagination. Even though it may seem bittersweet, it is an inspiring depiction of female empowerment and the social struggles of disability.
Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo is an English philologist and has a master’s degree in cultural studies from the National University of Colombia. She is a literature, writing and reading teacher from Minuto de Dios University in Bogotá, Colombia. Her main research interests are in literature, visual research, television studies and cultural studies.