“Roma”– Movie Review

This week at The 56th New York Film Festival, I attended The Centerpiece Screening – “Roma”, a drama written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. 

Synopsis

During a year in the life of a Mexican maid, can she take care of the family that employs her while living her own life?

Story

It is 1970 and we are in Roma – a middle-class neighborhood in Mexico City.  Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) is a young woman who was not born into a family of privilege, but she is employed by one.  As a live-in domestic, she works for a family who treats her as a member of their own because she is a loyal, hard-working woman who has gained everyone’s trust over the years.  She appreciates their affection because her own relatives live many miles away – but Cleo also yearns to someday fall in love with a man worthy of her and have a life of her own.

For now, anyway, Fermín (Jorge Antonio Guerrero) is the best that Cleo can do.  She dates Fermín exclusively for a while, having been introduced to him by the boyfriend of a co-worker.  Fermín is a young man of the streets; heavily into martial arts, he also came from a family that lived under great financial pressure and spent much of his youth hanging around the gangs that resided in his neighborhood.  One day, Cleo informs Fermín that she is pregnant and that he is the father of the baby.  That does it as far as Fermín is concerned – he disappears, forcing Cleo to try to find him. 

Cleo’s employer is also having her own issues; the husband of Sra. Sofía (Marina de Tavira) is cheating on her.  He is away from their home for weeks at a time, claiming he is on a business trip that has had to be extended; but what Sra. Sofía knows is that in truth, he is really spending time with his girlfriend.  Eventually, Cleo has to inform Sra. Sofía of her situation; sympathetic, Sra. Sofía makes sure Cleo is well taken care of by a doctor at a local hospital. Can Cleo to convince Fermín to return to her and help take care of their baby?  Will Sra. Sofía ever reunite with her husband?            

Review

If there has ever been a movie to which you should completely surrender yourself heart and soul, it is Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma”; as it is something that could be considered autobiographical, he is serving it up to audiences as if to say, “This is who I am, this is where I came from, this is what informs my films”.  “Roma” is Cuarón’s salute to the women who take care of us – all of them, no matter who they are.  This film tells us we are who the women who care for us shape us all to be – and that, in this era where women are increasingly raising their voice politically, may be the most important message to us all.  Assuming that it’s possible for a man to make a truly feminist motion picture, then Cuarón has indeed done so with “Roma”.      

From a technical aspect, shooting in black and white is an interesting choice, although some might want to argue it a gimmick.  There are some possible theories for Cuarón’s decision:  primarily, it takes place in the 1970’s and is the director’s memories from childhood which, while vivid, may be lacking in certain detail.  Also, the black and white imbues onto the picture something of a documentary-like feel.  Regardless, it works because of not only the way it is photographed but also, because of Cuarón’s shot choices.  He lingers on certain images and additionally, just uses the camera to pan across a shot in order to tell a story – no dialog is used because none is needed.  That’s how you tell a story visually.  

All of the above said, there are, however, some caveats to be aware of should you consider seeing “Roma”.  For one thing, “Roma” is more episodic in nature than narrative; that is to say it doesn’t necessarily have a traditional three-act structure, so a resolution to the story is somewhat flat from an emotional standpoint.  Although the movie has its protagonists – Cleo and Sra. Sofía obviously – the only antagonists are the men with whom they have romantic relationships.  Sra. Sofía’s husband as well as Fermín are the characters who create challenging situations which these women have to overcome.  Thematically, the film seems to advocate not only for sisterhood, but for the working class as well.