Barbie is a fantastic story about our society, wrapped in pink commercialism and painful honesty. It might be the first film that truly captures what makes gender equality a fundamental human right, while managing to form it into something original.
Even before the strikes, Hollywood was already in trouble because of its inability to deal with inclusiveness. Few creators manage to address current social issues without their film devolving into a didactic mess. However, after seeing “Barbie”, I can safely say that Greta Gerwig isn’t one of them. She took the world’s most famous plastic doll, and used it to show what it means to be a woman in the 21st century. By doing so, she and Warner Bros. not only managed to blow up the internet with one of the most amazing marketing campaigns ever, but also entertained me – a male in his 20s – to an extent I haven’t experienced at the movies in a while.
In the pink and gynocentric world of Barbieland, every day is the best day ever, except for one Barbie (Margot Robbie), who seemingly out of nowhere starts to worry about cellulite, and occasionally, death. Trying to find answers to her troubling thoughts, she sets out to the real world, accompanied by her life-long admirer, Ken (Ryan Gosling). In Los Angeles, they are greeted by the harsh truth that not everyone finds Barbie empowering, and a patriarchal world that is quite imposing to Ken, but makes Barbie question what she thought about life and her role in it so far.
There is not a single thing in “Barbie” that isn’t worth highlighting. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling both deliver compelling performances, as well as rest of the cast. Production and costume design ventures through the entire history of Barbie dolls, carefully implementing elements of the brand into the story. Meta jokes and witty humour assist the drama of Barbie and Ken brilliantly. Most importantly, the movie speaks about equality, decodable by every generation, without mincing any words.
I never expected to enjoy “Barbie” as much as I did. It has no right to be this good. I’m up to my eyeballs with fables about gender equality at this point, but after “Barbie”, I’m just happy that Greta Gerwig will show a masterful film for audiences around the world, one that should have been made years ago.
The Review
I never expected to enjoy "Barbie" as much as I did. It has no right to be this good. I’m up to my eyeballs with fables about gender equality at this point, but after "Barbie", I’m just happy that Greta Gerwig will show a masterful film for audiences around the world, one that should have been made years ago.
