ROMA

Watched this film on Netflix on our small TV screen. I am sure this influenced my impression of the film. It is a film that needs to be viewed on a big screen. I missed it in out local cinema.

The story is of a mexican maid who works for a rich Mexican family. The father of the family is a doctor. There are four children and a very lively dog. Cleo, the maid, takes care of every need of each member of the family. She is, in fact, their slave. They treat her well as some deep south ‘owners’ treated their slaves in the nineteenth century. But this was 1970.

The film is black and white. It moves painfully slowly in the first half. We keep returning to the barking dog in the corridor of the house. Cleo works away trying to cater for everyone’s needs. She lives in a small space in the garden. We really do get her situation due to the camera work. She and the other maid meet up with two guys, Cleo becomes pregnant by the cad who refuses to recognise the child she is carrying as his – nothing new there. There is civil unrest in Mexico city and Cleo and the family’s grandmother get caught up in this, as they go to buy a cradle for the baby. The unrest is viewed from the window of the store. The camera pans and returns to the interior of the store – several times. It all looked unreal to me and prevented me feeling sympathy for Cleo when her waters broke and she was whisked off to hospital. The chaos in the hospital also looked staged to me. I was, at all times, watching a film. The baby is born dead. The baby looked like a doll.

The family set off for the seaside with Cleo to allow the departed husband remove his things from the house. The seaside is anything but calm. The waves are raging – we can see what is coming as the children rush into the waves. The mother returns to the hotel to pack, Cleo is left in charge of the children, she can’t swim, the children wade out and alas don’t drown – Cleo comes to the rescue. The camera continues to pan along the beach. the scene looks dismal. I felt depressed. Cleo admits she never wanted the baby and everyone snuggles up in the car on the way back home.

Scenically I felt thoroughly depressed.

Everyone else in the world seemed to think the film deserved a 9/10 and or 5 stars until I read this today (21/02/2019).