Roma

Roma - An Intimate Panorama of Life

 Sometimes there are moments in our lives when we look back at our past and look at it in a different light. We remember how things were in a different way and maybe we give more value to certain things that we may not have valued while we were living at that moment. Sometimes we need to stand in a certain distance in time to fully understand these moments. We create a panoramic view of the past when we do that. And this is exactly what Alfonso Cuarón does in Roma, and that's why it's so easily such a personal and yet, at the same time, universal film. It's a look back into his childhood. However, what he reflects on isn't exactly his own childhood per se. This is a story about life and everything that it involves in all its complexity, simplicity, realism and contradiction. It's a reflection on the past while looking from the present, and not in a nostalgic way, but in a compassionate way. It's a beautiful look both at Mexican society in the early '70s and the personal dramas of a family. This is a film that has not only such a strong and rich presence of the director, but also something that everyone on this planet can connect to. It's one of the most emotionally powerful films of all time, with every shot being handled with such care and tenderness that they are able to move you to tears just with their beauty. There is so much to cover about it, but I'll try my best. For this film is the perfect expression of life.

 In this beautifully realistic black-and-white film, we follow the life of Cleo, the housemaid of a wealthy bourgeois Mexican family, who is played by Yalitza Aparicio. Her performance is one of the most impressive of the year. Aparicio brings to the screen one of the most nuanced and subtle performances I have ever seen, which is especially impressive when you take into consideration that this is her first film performance. She perfectly brings the emotions felt by Cleo to the screen in such a realistic way that it’s impossible not to feel for her. It’s such a subtle and heartbreaking performance that she is able to make every scene so much more emotionally powerful.

 We also follow the life of the family that Cleo works for and their dramas. We see their lives unravel before our eyes as if we are there in the living room with them. We also witness the divide that exists in Mexican society, especially in the contrast between the family’s house and the living quarters of the maids and the contrast between the wealthy neighborhood of Roma and the slums in the outskirts of the City of Mexico. Cuarón makes us look at the things that we wouldn’t normally look at and makes us notice all aspects of life. And this is what makes this film so important and beautiful.

 Roma, through its black-and-white cinematography, portrays life in its full rawness. What do I mean by this? What I mean is that nothing is hidden in it, not even the ugliness, making this film, paradoxically, more beautiful. Cuarón shows us life in its full complexity and simplicity. And he shows us life in its full confusion and contradiction. Be it in a crowded street, when Cleo is looking for Toño (one of the children, played by Diego Cortina Autrey) and his friend while everyone around her is going about their lives, completely oblivious of her situation, or  in a poignant scene where the family sits down eating ice cream, preparing for a new life without a father, while a couple near them celebrates a new life together, or even during a violent student protest, where Cleo’s waters break. It’s how life is: simple, complex, contradictory and confusing. And this is perfectly portrayed in this film.

 This film is also a representation of an open wound that is so deeply present and ignored in the continent of America. The open wound is the situation of the indigenous peoples, who were forced into submission by their colonizers. This deep injustice is constantly shown to us all throughout the film. This is because this is an extremely sympathetic look back at the life of an indigenous maid that was so important to Cuarón. People have criticized Roma for not putting the Amerindian situation and Mexican society into question. But I strongly disagree with this. Cuarón films with such tender attention all the small moments of this maid’s life, including the moments of housework and servitude and he makes us look at it for so long that he makes you question it. He takes every opportunity to put the way things are into question.

 There's so much love and tenderness in the way that Cuarón films Roma. This is so palpably a personal film and that makes it so much more personal. The care with which every shot is made is just so moving that I do believe if you aren’t moved to tears by this masterpiece then either you didn’t understand the film, and therefore you have to rewatch it, or something is wrong with you! This is a film that has something of everyone in it. There is so much information in just one shot and such importance is given to every little detail that there is always something new to notice and feel.

 One of the most important aspects present in this film is the importance given to the innocence of the children. Not only the children of the family but all children. As the dramas of the family and society unfold, the innocence and naiveté of the children are protected. This innocence is what keeps the world bearable and needs to be preserved. Cleo realizes this and indulges in a childish game with Pepe, the youngest child (played by Marco Graf, and my personal favorite of the four children), and plays dead with him. “I like being dead”, she says. This is also represented by the two boys we see in astronaut costumes: a wealthy kid in a very expensive costume, and a poor kid with just a bucket as a helmet. No matter the class, ethnicity, or nationality, all children are equally innocent, and their innocence is equally important for our world. There is constant protection of children and their essence in this film. Sra. Sofía (the mother, played so brilliantly by Marina de Tavira) does everything in her power to protect her children from the fact that they may not see their father ever again until the right moment to tell them that. There’s a scene that particularly moved me which is the scene when Cleo reveals to Sra. Sofía that she’s pregnant and starts to cry. Pepe comes to show his mother the drawings he made for his father and asks her why Cleo is crying. Sofía tells him that it’s because she has a tummy ache and he starts to massage Cleo’s belly while singing a lullaby. What moves me so much in this scene is how strong and wise the innocence of a child can be. Alfonso Cuarón has said that when he brought Libo, his real-life childhood maid who inspired the character of Cleo, in one particular scene she cried. When he asked her why she was crying and if he had crossed any boundary in the scene she said, “No, it’s about the children, I worry about the children”. This is exactly what this film tells us. We have to worry about the children and protect them. This is probably even more accentuated by the fact that this film is told through the perspective of Cleo.

 Which leads me to the two most powerful scenes of the film, which are deeply and intrinsically connected. Cleo gets pregnant from Fermín (played by Jorde Antonio Guerrero), who disappears after she tells him that she’s pregnant. In a scene where the camera is so painfully still, we are shown her giving birth to a dead girl. We see this happening looking from her right side with no cuts whatsoever. We simply see the scene unfolding and we simply take all the raw emotion emanating from the astonishing performance of Aparicio. If this wasn’t heart-breaking for you, the next scene I’m going to talk about certainly broke your heart. In a scene afterwards in the film, when the family goes for a vacation in Veracruz, two of the kids swim away from the shallows and are taken by the sea currents. Cleo, who doesn’t know how to swim, in a moment of desperation and determination, is able to save the children. When they return to the beach, Cleo starts to cry. This is because, at this moment, she realizes that what she is feeling about her dead child isn’t sadness or mourning, but guilt. She feels guilty for wishing that her child wouldn’t be born. And, for me, this is one of the most heart-breaking scenes in the history of cinema. This realization of guilt is somehow even more heart-breaking than any other feeling that she might have been feeling. At this moment, with the beautiful scenery of the beach and the soft cinematography, there is a pure feeling of compassion for Cleo present in every aspect of the film. And if that’s not beautiful, I don’t know what is.

 However, and this leads me to the next subject of the film, there is a family. Cleo is not alone, she is adopted by the family that she works for. As I have stated in my previous article about Shoplifters, a family doesn’t need to be connected by blood – it’s something much more important. Families are a network of support that is always there for you, both in your ups and downs. And this is extremely beautiful. Even though she is supposedly an employee of the family, she is treated like a part of it. This is evident in the scene where, after losing her baby, Cleo is invited by Sra Sofía to come with them for a vacation.

  This film could also be considered a depiction of the triumph of women in the 20^th century. All the men in this film abandon the women. Sr. Antonio, the father (played by Fernando Grediaga), after being introduced in a pompous scene filled with virility from his big and expensive Ford Galaxy that hardly fits in the narrow driveway of the house, he abandons the family to be with his mistress. In a similar way, Fermín is introduced to us in a scene where he proves his masculinity in his stark nakedness to Cleo through the showing of his martial arts skills to her. However, when she reveals to him that he got her pregnant in that night, he disappears and threatens her and her child when she finds him again. “No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone”, Sra. Sofía tells Cleo. However, despite the adversities brought over by the abandonment of the men, the female characters of this film are able to surpass their difficulties and turn their lives around. Sra. Sofía, who is the example of many women all over the world, is able to become an independent woman, breaking the chains that she had holding her down. She finds a new job and replaces the big Ford Galaxy with a much more practical and smaller Renault. She is able to take her life around and seize it and is able to keep her family and her home. However, she doesn’t accomplish this alone. She has the support of her two maids, Cleo, and Adela (played by Nancy Garcia), and her mother, Sra. Teresa (played by Verónica García). This shows that the cooperation of women leads to their independence and success. It’s the triumph of women and femininity.

 Roma is not a nostalgic experience, it’s a modern look at the past. Cuarón looks back to his childhood but doesn’t focus on it. He takes an adult and modern look at it and acknowledges the things he didn’t in the past. When, after returning from their vacation, Cleo goes back to her housework as if nothing had changed, at that moment, Cuarón acknowledges an injustice that he benefited from. The children care for Cleo like a family, but there is a clear line that separates them, she’s the maid and they are her bosses. Cleo sacrificed her life for them, perhaps even her child’s, and Cuarón looks back and recognizes this, and he thanks Libo for everything she did for him and everything she had to go through. This film, deep down, is a love letter to her. Through the story of Cleo, we recognize the lives of every woman that ever lived who sacrificed her life for the children she had to take care of. It’s a recognition of a heroic act that often goes unnoticed. And this is extremely important.

Roma is a beautiful panoramic view of Mexican society and reflects it through the telling of the story of one family. This is one of the most emotionally powerful films ever made. It speaks to everyone in one way or the other, unifying us all, which is what cinema, and art in general, is supposed to do. And for that, I want to thank Alfonso Cuarón again for gracing us with such a gorgeous masterpiece that, despite being in black-and-white, has more colors than most color films. In Roma, Cuarón thanks the woman who raised him, and I thank him for giving this gift to humanity. There are no words to express how much we were in need of this masterpiece and how much I am thankful for him for doing it. Thank you so much, Alfonso Cuarón.