Roma (2018)
Witten and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, a Mexican writer and director best known for his controversial coming of age story Y Tu Mamá También , one of most thought provoking and harrowing science fiction movies of last 20 years Children of Men and his last and most well known commercially and critically successful movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock.
Roma is perhaps his most personal and introspective of all his movies. The story is told through the eyes of a domestic worker or maid serving a white collar family of 4 young children, their grandmother, the father who is a doctor and his wife, Sofia. They live in a middle class neighborhood of Mexico City called Roma. The year is 1970-71. One can sense the story being partly biographical since Alfonso was born in Mexico City in 1961 and grow up their in the late 60's and 70's. Perhaps that is the reason why the imagery, sounds and atmosphere of the movie has such poignant resonance and nostalgia. He manages to not only realize the images of his childhood from his imagination on to the screen, but also infuse us with the sense of innocent foreboding embodied by the main character by simply using the sounds and images of the daily mundane of life from that time. This showcase the mastery of Cuarón direction who is able to visually and spiritually engross the audience in the story with classic film techniques from the likes of Antonioini and Farhadi without dwelling much into dialogue or the storyline.
Shot in gorgeous black & white, the richness of the art direction is absolutely stunning and mesmerizing. Each scene and composition reminds of the elusive and artful photography of that era from the likes of Lee Friedlander who captured the snapshot of Americana from the early 60's through his lens.
The story in brief is about the maid who is going through her own travails of rejection and isolation as she is witness to her employer's seemingly perfect but slowly unravelling household. The doctor husband goes on a long out of country assignment leaving the wife and kids to celebrate New Years on their own. As word comes out that he has taken a mistress and will not be returning back, the lady of the household breaks down before building herself back up carrying the kids along. All this family turmoil is happening while political unrest has permeated the city as witnessed by the images and sounds of riots and protests. The breaking of social order surrounds the main protagonists of the movie while their own personal lives are turned upside down. But the movie is not about the political turmoil or the social movement at that time, rather its told brilliantly from the perspective of the family and their daily struggles. We witness the mayhem through their eyes as the maid and the grandmother goes to the main city to select a baby crib from a furniture store, a riot breaks out and we watch with them one of the most visually stunning scenes of the movie. The feeling of helplessness is not suffice to explain the situation, its as if the protagonists are trapped in an avalanche of tragedies, too big and grand for them to comprehend or deal with, all they can do is for the storm to pass over so they can get back to their own personal monsoons.
As a cinephile, their is a lot to admire and appreciate. The opening shot of a stone floor being washed with water and soap as the puddle of water reflects the flying plane above is enough to wet the appetite of the viewer for the visual feast to come. Like I stated above, almost every scene and composition of the movie is worth a thousand words, but there are couple of tracking shots worth mentioning which stood out for me. One where the maid character is chasing after the kids on the crowded streets of Mexico City as they are heading towards a movie theatre. She loses them amongst the noisy hustle bustle of the city before miraculously finding them flipping through magazines at a newspaper stand. Then their is the tracking shot while the maid and the grandmother of the family is walking through a street while a student protest is going on, they are seen through the windows of large buses filled with soldiers seemingly bored and waiting for orders, as the camera follows them dwarfed and trivialized by the complexity of the whole situation. Lastly, the last great scene of the movie on the beach, as the maid who doesn't know how to swim, walks into the raging sea as she attempts of save the two kids helplessly being thrown around by the gigantic tides. Once again the motif of a small and insignificant individual thrown at the mercy of forces much larger and consequential then them. Their is also a single camera angle one long take no edit scene of child birth that is so heart-wrenching and powerful, it nearly took my breath away.
But the movie is not a cry-fest. It's just a bitter dose of reality which could have come across much more morbid and dry if not for the beautiful camerawork and art direction which has managed to infuse the movie with a melancholic beauty and poignancy that is hard to find nowadays.
Roma is a piece of art, a defining work of cinema. A personal movie that is also universal. A movie that not only questions and challenges our notions of society and hierarchy but also reflects the inanity and randomness of life. Yet, it also leaves us with a modicum of hope for the human race. That despite all the travails and challenges, ultimately we have to learn to live with each other, our survival hinges on being able to cope with our personal and environmental challenges through the bonds of family, friends and society.
A masterpiece, highly recommended.
Its out on Netflix but please watch it on a big screen if possible. Their is just so much to admire that a phone or laptop screen will not do justice to it. I never tag people in my reviews but I'm doing on this one as I feel movies likes these need to be watched, appreciated and pointed out amongst the avalanche of mediocrity that is accessible to us through our current media.
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