After all the love the Oscar folk showered Alfonso Cuarón with for his first major studio film, Gravity, he now turns the tables and writes and directs his most personal statement, Roma. The film is anything but a big blockbuster release and it presents a challenge to its audience.
It’s pace is deliberate and gradual and it slowly pulls you in. It relies on your patience and love of realistic story telling. Based on Cuarón’s own personal experience of growing up in a middle class household with a live-in housekeeper, it will make you care about this family unit and it will break your heart.
Things in this Mexican household unfold at a leisurely pace, a lot like things do in real life, and it is left up to you to form your own opinions about the validity of employing someone to do all of your menial tasks. It is not all heavy going however as the humour bubbles to the surface when these ladies are left to their own devices.
Are these jobs giving these women a better life or just taking advantage of their poverty and lack of opportunities? There is love for these ladies in the household, especially from the young children but their ability to advance seems implausible at best. It is a personal story and asks you to form your own opinions.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/ROMACuaron
