Common Sense Media Review
By Gonzalo Jimenez
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Ambitious, uneven film merges reality and fantasy; violence.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In BARDO, documentary filmmaker Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho) returns to Mexico City shortly before receiving an important journalism award in the United States. In Mexico, he encounters surreal situations (the re-creation of a battle, a visit to a TV studio, a crowded party in a dance hall, a conversation with Hernán Cortés) that mix reality and fantasy and confront Silverio with the relationship he has with his family, his identity, and his vision of Mexico.
Is It Any Good?
Ambitious, over-the-top, pretentious, autobiographical: All of this can be said of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's first film to be directed entirely in Mexico since Amores Perros in 2020. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 or Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, mixing reality and fantasy with surreal scenes as Silverio experiences absurd, fantastic, and extreme situations.
It's easy to see Silverio as Gonzalez Inarritu's alter ego, as the filmmaker justifies his work and his actions to those who criticize his films for being pretentious and hypocritical. Bardo is an excuse for the director to delve into his past and his relationship with Mexico and with success, family traumas, and the search for a personal voice. Although some sequences are insufferable, we must recognize the director's ambition, the mastery of setting a scene, and the excellence of the actors, cinematographer Darius Khondji, and production designer Eugenio Caballero.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the fact that the word "bardo" has several meanings: "poet," "mud," and "limbo" (in Buddhism). Which one do you think applies to this film?
Can a story mix reality and fantasy? Does that make the story difficult to understand? Which scenes do you think actually happened to Silverio, and which ones do you think came from his imagination?
The film criticizes Mexico's relationship with the United States and with the Spanish conquest by Hernán Cortés. What are the negative and positive aspects of Mexico's relationship with both countries?
Movie Details
- In theaters: November 4, 2022
- On DVD or streaming: December 16, 2022
- Cast: Daniel Giménez Cacho , Jay O. Sanders
- Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
- Inclusion Information: Latino directors, Latino actors, Latino writers
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 159 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: language throughout, strong sexual content and graphic nudity
- Last updated: April 16, 2023
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