The story this movie tells begins when Frida was a young woman and was injured in a bus accident that left her unable to walk. She was in a body cast for a long time, and endured several tortuous medical procedures, including the wearing of a metal "corset" and other body stretching devices. While bedridden, she began drawing and painting. She eventually did regain her ability to walk, but never fully recovered.
After she was able to walk again, she took her paintings to an artist she respected, Diego Rivera, and asked him if he would give her an honest critique of her work. He told her she was good, better in fact, than he was. Diego became her mentor, her lover, and eventually her husband.
It was not an easy marriage. Diego was unfaithful, and while Frida had not expected fidelity, it was hard to bear just the same. Frida continued to paint during her marriage, but Diego's art came first. People told her repeatedly how good she was, but it seemed hard for her to believe them. She thought she was the only one who could relate to her work, when in fact many people can relate to the theme of loneliness and pain. She was fond of self-portraits, and painted many of them.
Diego Rivera was a very political man, and he expressed his politics through his art. He was a communist, and made no secrets about it. At one point, Diego and Frida go to New York and Diego is commissioned to do a painting. He puts Lenin in the painting, and refuses to take him out. He gets fired and the wall is torn down. Another commission he had in Chicago was cancelled. Diego heads back to Mexico discouraged and depressed.
This movie follows Frida through her entire life and documents her experiences and turmoil. One dream that Frida has is to have an art exhibit in her own country, Mexico. At the end of the movie, this happens, but Frida is ill and the doctor and her husband order her not to leave her bed. Frida has her bed carried to a truck, and is driven to the exhibit. She followed the doctor's orders; she never left her bed. This ending is an example of her spirit and determination.
I would say that the "good guys" in this movie are individuality and creative expression. The "bad guys" are anybody or any school of thought that worked to oppress people and cause harm to those who would let their unpopular or radical opinions be heard.
Paulo Friere's philosophies were evident in this movie in its emphasis on educating all people and giving a voice to the oppressed.