Rainbow Parent Guide

Shutters bang in a rising windstorm as Dora (Dora Postigo) argues with her father (Hovik Keuchkerian) over the identity and whereabouts of her long-lost mother. Incensed that her protective father has lied to her for years, Dora grabs her dog, Toto, and heads off in the night to find her missing parent.

Rainbow is a clumsy modern adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. It follows the red-headed heroine as she travels towards Capital City, inadvertently stumbling across a death and being suspected of murder. She runs into her long-lost grandmother (Carmen Machi), a murderous elderly socialite (Carmen Maura), a neurologically challenged man chained in a junkyard (Ayax Pedrosa), a depressed middle-aged man (Luis Bermejo), and a young transgender adult (Wekafore Jibril). As this motley crew travels across Spain, they have a variety of adventures before Dora eventually uncovers the truth about her identity.

If you’re expecting a remake of the classic Wizard of Oz story with a contemporary feel, let me warn you - we’re not in Kansas anymore. This isn’t just a Euro-styled retelling of the familiar tale; it’s a deeply strange film with a gritty aesthetic and oodles of negative content.

Rainbow is not family friendly for multiple reasons, including an extended scene of hallucinogenic drug use, which is treated as a positive, enlightening experience. The movie is also surprisingly violent, featuring a gruesome scene where a dead man is shot in the head, with a fair bit of gore and blood splatter. There is also a brief flashback of a pregnant woman being punched in the abdomen and a couple of scenes of attempted or contemplated suicide. Sexual content recurs throughout the script with a manipulative lesbian relationship, a persecuted transgender character, and some experimental sexual behavior involving fondling a teenage girl’s breasts while she’s clothed. Throw in three dozen sexual expletives, including 16 sexual expletives, and there are plenty of disincentives for family viewing.

This production also disappoints for reasons beyond the negative content. The narrative sometimes makes illogical connections and not all main characters are well developed. The pacing is terrible with a soundtrack that slows down the story rather than energizing it. The biggest issue, though, comes from the attitudes that permeate the film. Dora routinely makes terrible decisions and acts on them impulsively. Her behavior is reckless and could easily result in tragedy. There’s also an emphasis on “making your own truth”. As one character tells Dora, “Everything is true. You choose which truth to live in.” This isn’t just moral or ethical relativism – it encourages characters to structure whatever “reality” they want. Dora, for once, makes a wise decision here, finally appreciating the importance of family, but this philosophy can easily lead to self-indulgence and delusion. The original film featured lyrics that went “And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” In that story, the lyrics encouraged courage and discovery. But this movie’s encouragement to choose your own truth encourages people to live in a world of their own making – not one built on facing hard realities but on inventing comfortable ones. Frankly, that sounds like something of a nightmare for the rest of us.