Roma

The film Roma is a refreshing look at Mexican culture after the distorted Disneyfication of the day of the dead cartoons (not one but two) that Hollywood put out, and of course all the ones that are about drug gangs: both genres distort the culture. In contrast, Roma is a small quiet (aka boring) film that will probably win awards.

I watched it with Kuya and we both remarked it resembled today's Filipino middle class here in the small cities outside Manila where we live (the film was about a middle class family in Mexico in the 1970s).

Yes, we have a cook and maid who are part of the family, and we also have maids who come and go because they are young and soon move on to a better paying job in Manila, or get pregnant and marry their boyfriends (either legally or common law).

The laundry is done on the roof, and hung there to dry (we used to do it until I moved the washing machine to the alcove next to our kitchen because we are three stories high and the roof would be another story up, so I felt sorry for the maids who would have to run up and down on wash day).

And I laughed at cleaning up dog poop: Dogs are the first line of protection and you keep them out in the yard to bark and bite, but they do tend to mess up the place, and the maids have to clean up the messes in the morning so you don't walk in them.

However, one thing was missing: No religion? Yes, they are middle class, and living in very secular Mexico City, but usually grandmother has a statue or picture of Mama Mary (in Mexico, our Lady of Guadalupe) in the corner. Here it is a shelf with small statues of the local Madonnas, and one of the holy Child/Santo Nino. And of course a picture of the last supper in the dining room.

But a good film to counteract the crazy films about Mexico.