A particularly intriguing film about identity (“Are you a gringo, a Mexican or do you live as a bastard in the dark?”) and life wisdom is Bardo by director Alejandro G. Inárritu, who wrote the film together with Nicolas Giacobone. What makes the hilarious ‘False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths’ subtitle Bardo so strong is, in addition to the strong script, the special visual language that meanders between realism and surrealism in combination with an exquisite sound mix that makes it an absolute added value to have this Netflix film in to see the cinema.

In Bardo everything revolves around the Mexican journalist Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho). He will soon be the first Latin American journalist to receive a prestigious prize for his journalistic work, which has become increasingly subjective with the passing of the years, so he has taken on the docu-fiction tour. Immediately there is a first element that makes this epic black dramedy film so special. “If you’re not playful, you won’t be taken seriously.” he says. Playful is, among other things, the game he plays with his wife Lucía Gama (Griselda Siciliani) when he plays her, her breasts are bare, chasing and not immediately found at home. Then Bardo beckons and also goes to the thriller genre.

In one of the opening scenes, we see Silverio’s son Mateo giving birth. When the baby is born, the midwives clean it before the surgeon decides to push the child back into the vagina of Silverio’s wife Lucía. “He doesn’t want to get out because the world is ruined.” says the surgeon. In a later shot, we see Lucía walking down the corridor of the hospital with a safe umbilical cord until her husband cuts it. “How does he get food now?” asks which she replies “He will open me”. Little by little, Bardo reveals his secrets, the puzzle fits together perfectly, you as a viewer learn how strong this image is and you also see the figurative meaning of “He will open me”. “Mateo is now an idea, not a person anymore.” it sounds a bit later. But Mateo will come back when Silverio licks and sucks his wife. That literal image also has something deeply human figurative.

There is no lack of other, to put it mildly, strange scenes in Bardo. For example, we see Silverio in a subway car with a plastic bag containing three axolotls in the water. He will drop those three salamanders, so that the subway car is suddenly under water up to the ankles and he has to find the animals again. Also, the news report that Amazon is buying the Mexican state of Baja California from the government is a bummer to say the least.

Surreal are the images we see in Bardo when Silverio meets the US ambassador to Mexico at Chapultepec Castle. Suddenly they seem to have found themselves in a re-enactment of the 1847 Battle of Chapultepec and the suicides of the Ninos Héroes. Let’s take a look at the background where we see a woman cleaning the floor with a modern food processor. So funny!

In a TV show by Luis (Francisco Rubio) where he will never break in real life as a guest because Silverio apparently does not seek confirmation from people who despise him, he continues to talk about ethical journalism while both gentlemen have a cup of coffee. from the sponsor of the program … Bardo also trusts the film industry itself. In this case, the main character meets that also sometimes becomes the narrator. “Stop it, your lips aren’t moving.” loud it. Also towards the end of the film, Silverio’s mother will make a similar comment.

During a party where Camila (Ximena Lamadrid), Silverio’s daughter, is being danced, then take control of the sound again. When she claps her hands, the number changes abruptly. Genius is the scene in which we see everyone dancing vigorously, Silverio under a disco ball, but only David Bowie’s voice singing ‘Let’s dance’, without any supporting accompaniment. That produces a wonderfully absurd picture.

Whoever gives those images well achieved, will probably have to chuckle heartily like us later in Bardo at the quote “Tough men don’t dance”. On a choreographic level, we find the scene in the airport where passengers go forward one after the other in transition to feast. We also really liked that one when Silverio is downloaded with Luis and says “I don’t want to hear it anymore”, we then see Luis lips and as a viewer no longer hear what he says.

Sublime is the moment when Silverio is expected at the presentation of his award and follow spots are aimed at those present to look for him. Then he bends over and tries to stay out of sight, which here also refers to a war situation. All scenes thus achieve more intertwining, both developed and formal, and that is precisely the genius of this Bardo.

Strong is the scene that follows in the men’s room when Silverio speaks to his father, who is proud that his son is starting to get gray hairs. We see father and son alternately in a bird’s eye view and a frog’s eye view of the other character in order to convey the greatness of the father and the smallness of Silverio.

It is therefore that Bardo imparts one of his many life lessons to the viewer. A selection from this film: “Age comes unannounced and then it becomes a full-time job.”, “Success is my greatest failure.”, “Life is a series of short meaningless events. Surrender everything.” en “You have to sip success. Rinse your mouth and spit it out. Otherwise it will poison you.”

Despite that, we wish Bardo the best of luck, as these wins deserve an award.

Bardo is in theaters now and on Netflix from December 16, 2022.