Year: 2018
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Country: Mexico
Language: Spanish
The first time I had seen Roma (2018) I hadn't been paying much attention, instead opting to switch back and forth between viewing, doing household chores and writing. The second time was quite recently at Theology in the Dark, a series of viewings at St.Benedicts' Table wherein a group of us watch a film and then discuss its spiritual significance. This second viewing was much needed as I found myself far more engaged with the material and thus in greater awe of it.
A cinematic ode to his own family's longtime maid. Alfonso Cuaron's Roma is about a year in the life of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) ; a middle-class family's maid in Mexico City in the early 1970s.
There is not much plot in Roma, but that is purely by design. It's a slow burn that demands our patience as we observe a story grounded in hardship and realism. In another film Cleo, the household's maid, would be a background character. Indeed, both onscreen and off we often overlook and ignore people like her. Cuaron makes us rethink our lack of appreciation for the Cleos of the world and creates a character that is nearly a saint in very small ways that the unobservant might miss.
Cuaron crafts each shot with incredible precision. Rarely is a close-up used, as sweeping tracking shots give us a better vision for a crumbling society and a decaying family. The distant production design gives our characters room to breathe, making them feel more relatable and develop in a more organic way. I have never lived through the 70's and I have never been to Mexico, yet I felt very familiar with Cleo, her city, and the family she takes care of.
Among many other subtle lessons, Roma teaches us that small acts of kindness, even if rarely rewarded, have a profound impact on our harsh society. Acts of empathy and reverence are traits of great importance, far more than status or money or power or patriarchy. Roma teaches us to be better people and I admire the film for that.
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