Roma (2018) ( Alfonso Cuarón, 2018) Mexico | USA

Reviewed by Kaio Fadul Farkouh Viewed at the 2019 SBFF

Alfonso Cuaron is back with his most personal film ever made, known for films like “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, “Children of Men” and his latest one “Gravity”. The two times Academy award winner gives us one of the best movies of 2018, that will stay with us and it is an instant classic. Besides being the director of the movie, Alfonso also is the producer, editor and the director of photography, besides him the movie counts with Yalitza Aparicio (first film) and the experience Marina de Tavira (Efects Secundarios). The movie is produced and distributed by Netflix.

Roma is a story about a middle class family’s maid in Mexico during 1970. Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) is a maid, that works for a wealthy family. Through the movie we see Cleo taking care of the kids, going to the movies, enjoying  to the beach and so goes on, ordinary things. The movie is inspired by Alfonso Cuaron’s childhood, who was one of the kids, and the mother, Sofia (Marina de Tavira) and the housekeeper Cleo are based on his real mother and the maid, who took care of him.

The movie works so well because of Alfonso Cuaron. He crafted something special here. Yalitza Aparicio is outstanding as Cleo, giving us one of the best performances of 2018. The movie has a very slow pace, and Alfonso does not want to rush you. So be aware of it. Due to the fact that he wants us to pay attention to every single detail in the movie. The way he uses the camera, with long takes. And a camera that barely induces us to watch something or someone. We can pay attention to the gorgeous photography. For example, without spoiling anything, there is one shot where the shot starts in a store goes through a window, outside the window you can see that there is a confusion going on, so the camera goes back to the store, and when it comes back to the store there is a chase going on. All of that without cutting in action, or rushing! All in one shot, no cuts.

The movie is evocative in many ways, it talks not only about Alfonso’s childhood, rather it talks how hard is to be a woman/mom in the world, the difficult about dealing with men. There is one sentence, that stood out for me, when Sofia says, “We are alone. No matter what they tell you, we women are always alone”. Even though the movie happens in the 70’s, this is a message that still works in today’s day. The movie is not only about a housekeeper and family, it is a political film that goes beyond things we see on screen. It is a must see. Masterpiece.