What this film tells, just like the one on IMDB wrote, describes the consequences of individuals, families, and communities from different cultural backgrounds being included in the context of global capitalist expansion. Through the intertwined life between an American family and their Filipino maid family, I think about what the market economy has changed in this era of "the world is flat". What the director Moodysson showed is that with the expansion of capitalism and the labor-management relations it represents, the Western-style lifestyle not only liberates people from the original economic comfort, but also places them in a new one. Under the coercive relationship. What the film emphasizes is precisely the new form of inequality in this process.
The story begins in New York. The successful businessman Leo Vidales (played by Gael Barcia Bernal) is about to embark on his new business trip to Asia, reluctantly parting with his wife Ellen (played by Michelle Williams) and his 7-year-old daughter Jackie. Ellen is a surgeon in the hospital, who has been busy with work and neglected to take care of Jackie's life. Thanks to Gloria (Marife Necesito), a maid from the Philippines, who is hardworking and capable, she became Jackie's good friend. Although Gloria almost assumed the role of Jackie's second mother in New York, her two children, Badong and Manuel, in the Philippines on the other side of the globe, always miss their mothers who go out to work and hope to see her soon.
Leo used to be an otaku, and later made a fortune by making video games. This time I came to Thailand to negotiate a big deal with a Thai consortium under the cooperation of business partner Bob. But the life of living in a five-star hotel by private business jet makes everyone feel uncomfortable everywhere. Obviously Bob has arranged all the matters, and the only thing he needs to do is to sign the final contract. In the empty hotel room, Leo wanted to confide his discomfort with his wife, but he didn't know what role he should play. Ellen, who lives in New York, is worried about missing Jackie's growth. But she is dedicated and serious, insisting on maintaining her career, but found that her influence in her daughter's life has become smaller and smaller. Gloria's two children kept urging their mother to go home early. But she knew that if she didn't make money in New York, she couldn't build their own house for the two children in her hometown. Only the care that Jackie can devote to can make up for the guilt in her heart.
The story just switched back and forth between several locations, until Leo finally couldn't stand the emptiness and decided to go out to experience the real life, and he insisted on coming to a small holiday island. Ellen saved a boy who suffered domestic violence in the emergency room and began to think about the mother's responsibilities. In the Philippines, Badong was unable to reassure his increasingly anxious younger brother, and began to wonder if his work could help supplement some of his family. And a series of events that changed the two families happened like this...
I think the biggest controversy in this movie is probably that the story that follows is too fatalistic. A wealthy Yankee met the "innocent" Thai hotel girl; a guilty doctor tried to make up for maternal love on a small patient; a naive little boy wanted to find a job in the sinister adult society. The director's arrangement basically did not exceed my expectations. To a certain extent, I have said that this arrangement is a kind of "real". Even if such stories happen at the same time, they lack a convincing power, but these two families are the epitome of the tens of thousands of people on both sides of the ocean who are affected by economic globalization. But I think this kind of performance lacks depth and layering. The connection of economic fate does not only mean that the Easterners have become the objects of consumption by the Westerners and the foreigners seeking spiritual comfort. A Filipino maid who works in a foreign country does more than just send money back home to build a house. The increasingly close economic relationship does replicate the inequality under the logic of the market economy, but it also brings new opportunities and the possibility of breaking down barriers.
When I was watching this movie, I kept thinking about one of my Canadian classmates, D, who was still studying for a PhD in his 50s. He is energetic and has taught in schools all over the world. Coincidentally, he taught at an international school in Thailand before entering the Ph.D. program and met his Thai girlfriend at the same time. They have been together for 5 years, and they are usually contacted by phone, because as a doctoral student without extra income, it is impossible to travel frequently between continents. I talked to him about this experience when we lived together for a business trip. He joked that he was easily recognized as the kind of old western man who went to the east for fun. But he has no money and no power, and his girlfriend never asks him what he wants. She is a very simple Thai girl. He hopes that after graduation, he can get married with his girlfriend and settle down as soon as possible.
I am not giving this example to rectify the names of Westerners. I just don't like the almost decisive tone in the movie. All the characters are performing their assigned roles. This strong ideology (even if I agree with it) makes the film itself less attractive. Leo mentioned in Thailand that he wanted to learn more about the lives of local people and even help them improve. Why can he only go to nightclubs instead of going to the countryside? Why can't the Gloria family change their lives through hard work? These are all things I want to ask the director while watching the movie. Unfortunately, none of these are mentioned in this movie.
Finally, let me talk about Michelle Williams. This is the second time I have watched her perform after Wendy and Lucy (not counting Brokeback Mountain). She is really good at performing the kind of marginal or alienated people! But I always feel that her expression is a bit single.
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