We have a fiction, about Silvério ( Daniel Chimenez Cacho ) a professional with a high journalistic and documentary degree who was born in Mexico and had his success and successful reputation in the USA where he raised his family. SILVERIO struggles with his weight in conscience and various internal psychological problems such as living outside his country and what his countrymen will think of him, the loss of a child who died after childbirth and the lack of paternal presence towards his other two children .

We don't need much effort to notice that it is a life-based fiction ( or at least the way of thinking that the director wanted to pass us...) from INARRITU . I will not put myself affirming or failing to affirm something about his life or the way he wanted to represent , or even have a pre-concept of everything I read about his personality but we cannot clearly say in a slightly more technical and less particular and personal way about the work.

We recently watched ROMA streaming platform, a film by his compatriot ALFONSO CUARON where we have a work that is very, or completely, about the director's childhood in his homeland, so we couldn't help comparing them . In "Rome" we have everything well defined, the struggle and difficulties of a domestic worker in Mexico in the 70s, here we have several mini themes , but that are the point of view of inarrutu, but do not evolve, it is only placed in the film in a critical and ambiguous way at the same time. Everything here is about Mexico, starting with the cast and technical team ... criticism of American Capitalism, where they even talk about the purchase of part of Mexico by the Amazon company, later we saw that certain employed Mexicans cannot enjoy their own land...Criticism of the treatment given to Mexican emigrants .... criticism of the new sensationalist format of critics and journalists where what matters is likes and not the content... we also have about the history of Mexican colonization and the values of the Central American people and the futilities of the North American.

To summarize it looks like a script that does not evolve , the story ( and a very long story ) sometimes gets tiring but all these themes are found at the end, as there is a great editing work , where in the beginning until intentionally everything is played almost randomly: politics, paternity, family, work ... The upper part of the film, are the beautiful and beautiful photography techniques, each very well thought out plan that would certainly give a painting in our living room , engraved with lenses a wide angle puts us in the film as if it were a dream, with distortions at the edges looking like it was recorded with an action cam.

We could certainly have a complete work of art if we had a script with an arch and not just a director wanting to talk about himself all the time , and showing its truths, some things could be cut that the intention would remain the same in 120 minutes, but we cannot fail to recognize the direction and especially the photograph , those do fill your eyes .

'Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths' (original title is 'Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades'), the 2022 film by Alejandro González Iñárritu, is one of those films that polarizes the opinions of both viewers and of critics. Some of them will be captivated, excited, immersed and amazed with its beauty and richness. Others will be irritated, bored and disappointed, left searching for the meaning of a rather unusual cinematic experience. From the start I will say that I belong to the first category - I liked the movie enormously. But it is not an easy film, nor a film that respects the canons and rules of commercial cinema. That is precisely why it should not be judged or valued according to these shablons.

The word 'Bardo' in the title originates in the language in which the Tibetan Buddhist texts are written and denotes the transitional period that exists in the Buddhist worldview between death and the next rebirth. The film can therefore be seen as a journey into a world suspended between existence and non-existence, a dream or a collection of dreams about a life that was. Some of these dreams are very real, however, and refer to the life of Silverio, the film's lead character, a successful Mexican journalist who has been working and living in the United States for decades. The story could have been told in a realist style, but Iñárritu chose to present it as a series of episodes, each the size of a short film, that repeatedly slip into dreaminess, in the style and tradition of Latin American magical realism. A key to the whole concept is provided in the final episode, but until then viewers will be captivated by a lavish and original visual concept, a sequence of episodes and characters that ask questions about personal identity and relations between generations, about American-Mexican history and politics, about migrations and about the way current affairs are reflected in commercial television shows. The lead hero, whose biographical profile is very similar to that of the film director himself, is played by Daniel Giménez Cacho, an exceptional Mexican actor. The cast is overwhelmingly Mexican and the dominant language spoken is Spanish, although the film's story is split between Mexico and the United States. The cast is excellently chosen and manages to create memorable and distinct identities, reaping the rewards of the ample time devoted to each character development.

The visual power of the film is exceptional and I look forward to seeing whether Darius Khondji's cinematography will convince the judges of the Academy Awards (this being the film's only nomination). The entire production is highly polished, and many of the scenes will remain in the memory of the audiences both for their symbolism and aesthetic impact. But 'Bardo' is also a very personal film, entering the category of films that are based on the biographies of their filmmakers, but rather than mirroring they distill them, which turn each of these movies into independent cinematic events. This is what Fellini did in '8 1/2' and 'Amarcord', Bergman in 'Fanny and Alexander', Truffaut in '400 coups' or Kenneth Branagh in 'Belfast'. Most of them, however, returned to the periods of childhood or coming to age, while Iñárritu projected his own biography with the personal experiences and identity dilemmas into the character of Silverio, while addressing some of the critical issues of the world we live in and building an impressive cinematic edifice. This is not a film that can be 'digested' easily at a commercial viewing, although I think that visually those who see it in theaters are at an advantage. My opinion is that this film will grow over time and that in a while it will be considered a landmark movie and one of the most important films of Iñárritu's career.