“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” – Movie Review by Rafy Mediavilla (@Rmediavilla)
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. BARDO is an epic, visually stunning, and immersive experience set against the intimate and moving journey of Silverio, a renowned Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker living in Los Angeles, who, after being named the recipient of a prestigious international award, is compelled to return to his native country, unaware that this simple trip will push him to an existential limit. The folly of his memories and fears has decided to pierce through the present, filling his everyday life with bewilderment and wonder. With both emotion and abundant laughter, Silverio grapples with universal yet intimate questions about identity, success, mortality, the history of Mexico, and the deeply emotional familial bonds he shares with his wife and children. Indeed, what it means to be human in these very peculiar times.
With that synopsis of the movie out of the way, I believe it’s fair that we first should describe what Bardo means, but I say this because one of the first things that I did after I got out of the theater to look up the meaning of parable because to me it felt that it was important to understand what this means because I truly believe it played a huge role in the story. And so, it did, Bardo can be best described as a state between death and rebirth, and I truly believe that Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu took to heart the meaning of Bardo when he wrote this movie, this is exactly what you see during the two hours and 40 minutes running time.
I must admit that I wasn’t completely convinced that I was going to fall in love with this movie the way I did. This movie spoke to me in many ways, both personally and professionally. In a way, much like Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s work, this one felt to me the most personal to him, in some way it feels like a pseudo-biopic of his life, yet the story is relatable enough that even people that are not fond of cinema, or not actually deep in the inside of the industry.
Through all sorts of different visually stunning scenes and constant changes of tone from humorous, to emotionally raw moments, to flat-out embarrassing humiliating moments, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu touches on many subjects that people can relate to. From your purpose in life to your relationship with your family and your kids the questioning your nationality because of what you do Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu crafted another masterclass of storytelling in cinema.
With Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu well-known resume it should come as no surprise that this is one of his most ambitious projects yet. just by looking at the trailer without really needing to see the whole movie you can see how much thought he went into the production process of the movie there will be going and coming from different places so big props had to be given to the production designers pulling my opinion had the toughest the biggest responsibility of coming up with this vision Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu had to tell the story. Performance-wise, the whole cast did great, but Daniel Giménez Cacho stole the show.
In the end, this movie invites you to do some self-reflection to put yourself in the shoes of the protagonists, as you question everything from who you are, what you are and how did you get there, and if it was all worth it. It is my favorite movie from Alejandro González Iñárritu since Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), I can even see how much these movies mirror each other.
