On December 14th, the highly anticipated "Roma" was officially released and resources were released online at the same time. Many labels such as the Golden Lion Award, Mexico's Three Heroes, and black and white images kept impacting my heart, and it only took a quarter of an hour. I just decided to go to the Broadway Cinema in Hong Kong on Sunday in 2 days to meet the best film of the year by many people (including me now).
Facts have proved that the struggle of that quarter of an hour is completely unnecessary. Whether it is picture or sound, this is a film that must be experienced on the big screen. My perception is the opposite of many critics of the film, I think Alfonso Cuaron has gone out of his way to say everything he wants to say. Jiang Wen restored an old Beijing city in his mind in order to film " Evil Does Not Overcome Righteousness", but compared with Mexico City in "Rome", it is simply laughable and generous. Interestingly, Caron is only two years older than Jiang Wen, so their childhoods happened to be at the same time, one in the capital Beijing and the other in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. More coincidentally, the protagonists of the two films are the "Knight" on the roof and the maid on the roof.
It is said that Caron is a child of a wealthy family and does not eat human fireworks, but his memories of childhood are full of market atmosphere. For him, childhood is not an old house and a retro car (sorry to pull Jiang again. The director came out and was beaten), it was the smoke of fireworks scattered in the streets and alleys, and it was the sound of hawking that filled the streets and alleys.
Spoiler starts below
The protagonist of this film is Cleo, a maid who works and lives in a wealthy family. To this family, she is just a boarder, but to this land, she represents the indigenous people of Mexico. In a way, these rich people are the trespassers occupying their land. Cuaron chose such a perspective to go back to that era, not by imagining " Sister Peach ", but just to use a movie to sing praise to the servant who treated him meticulously in his childhood and express the touching friendship between master and servant. This film involves the discussion of family, society and politics. He did not shoot directly at the camera, but kept his own perspective with restraint, always following the maid Cleo, watching, enduring, and enduring. everything that is happening in this era.
Cleo kicked off the film with a water pipe. In the boring housework, she did not forget to use her singing to find a world of freedom for herself, but like her Bolas, even if there is no chain, it will Never break free from the shackles of this family. But even if they break free, where can they go, their hometown has no land that belongs to them, and the work of servants is quite rare for them who are not highly educated.
At the dinner table, the children calmly talked about seeing soldiers shooting children who threw water polo at them on the way home. Cleo was the only one who expressed surprise and fear. Others have long been accustomed to this kind of thing. For them "upper class", as long as the gun is not aimed at them, who would care about how many people died today? All they care about is whether there is hot tea to drink while the family sits on the sofa watching sitcoms, and they refuse to give their maids even a moment of relaxation.
Fortunately, Cleo has her own way of leisure, and sometimes she will take advantage of the holidays to have a four-person date with her best friend, and his hot-blooded (zha) boyfriend who likes to play "stick". Director Cuaron used a few male images (the derailed husband, the scumbag who escaped and the driver who disappeared directly in the second half) to symbolize the absence of the power system in this society. Those in power do nothing or even evade responsibility, making the weak Cannibalism, and ultimately cheer up and rebuild order. This is the misfortune of the family and the tragedy of the times.
The upper-class and upper-class Americans also have their own way of entertainment. They have picnics in the suburban estates, party and dance in the villas, and even shoot at the virgin forests of Mexico, causing a fire, and in the "bottom" since The aborigines who entertained themselves had to come out to put out the fire, and the fire at the city gate affected the pond fish. This is the true portrayal of the Americans leading the bourgeoisie to recklessly cause turmoil on the land of Mexico and eventually implicate the masses. Even in such a seemingly family sketch, Cuaron never gave up political expression, otherwise he would not have given a few close-ups of the Ford logo in the paragraph where the male owner returns home and the car can't open the door. Contrasts of class abound, such as Cleo orderly turning off the lights in the big house and going back to his servant's room to light a candle. Another example is the host who eats at the table and Cleo who always stands by. Although they all go to the movies, the theaters they go to are not in the same area.
In the end, the big turmoil (the Tlatelolco incident ) cost Cleo her own child, the child represents hope, and the director's set of empty shots deprived everything of life, a bleak moment for her, and for the whole of Mexico of bleak moments. But all this is nothing in the eyes of the hostess, because she officially told the children that she and her husband are divorced, and they are about to face their new lives, going to work in a publishing house, changing a smaller car, and coming to her Say that's the biggest problem.
By the sea, the hostess left Cleo, who can't swim, to take care of the children who were going to play in the sea. The new family power center lived up to expectations and was "absent" again. Waves of waves echoed the opening shots, but this time Cleo stood To the other side, bravely walked towards it. The kind-hearted she felt that she lost her child because she didn't want him. In order to atone for her sin, she dragged the two children out of the abyss with incomparable determination, and finally came out of her own abyss.
Back at home, no one cared about Cleo's heroic rescue. She returned to normal and quickly threw herself into her work. In the last shot of the film, Cleo climbed the ladder symbolizing spiritual sublimation. But we all know that waiting for it is just one piece of dirty clothes and one life that repeats day after day.
Even without children, Cleo's own maternal brilliance is dazzling enough, and she has been caring for the entire family like a mother, although the family does not treat her as an equal in the end. Such a role carries Alfonso Cuarón's love and praise for her childhood nanny, and more importantly, she represents the hard-working, kind, and brave Mexican people who have suffered and been ravaged by history, but have never Never give up hope for life. "Roma" may not be epic, but it is Alfonso Cuaron's ode to his hometown.
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