Do as the Romas Do

There’s no way to get around it, Roma is an arthouse movie with a capital “A.” It’s a black and white movie, it’s spoken in a non-English language, it doesn’t feature any major movie stars, it’s long and slowly paced, its story is overly simplistic, and it features scenes that are meant to be symbolic, rather than have anything to do with the movie’s plot. So it’s only fitting that no American movie studio would make this film, and so Netflix, always in search for original content, was quick to make this film a reality. And sadly, this movie will probably only be remembered for being on Netflix, and not much else.

Roma was the passion project of Alfonso Cuaron, who wrote, produced, edited, and directed the movie; and even did the cinematography. Yes, he pulled an Orson Welles. Set in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City during the 1970s, the story is of Cleodegaria "Cleo" Gutiérrez, the live-in maid of a middle-class household. Antonio and Sofia, the husband and wife of the household, are in a strained marriage, and Cleo finds herself impregnated by her boyfriend, Fermin, who is part of a paramilitary group. I can’t really go into much detail other than that, so I’ll give my rating here, and if you want to read beyond that, do so at your own risk. Overall, I give Roma a solid three out of five stars. If you like arty films, or you just want to see what the big deal about this movie is, go ahead and watch it on Netflix.

Short Version

Pros:

• Good performances all around.
• Great cinematography and direction.

Cons:

• Painfully slow pace.
• Imagery that many viewers will find off putting.

Verdict: *** (three out of five stars).

Okay, that being said, onto the spoilers! Antonio and Sofia get a divorce and Cleo’s baby is a stillborn. That’s it, that’s the entire plot in a nutshell. The movie is over two hours long, and that’s all that really happens. Like I said, this is an arthouse movie with a capital “A.” And there’s helluva lot of symbolism, case in point, a running gag about Antonia’s car. See, the family have a dog, who apparently spends all his time in the garbage, and no one pays any attention to him. The result is that the garbage’s floor is covered in (please pardon my language) dog shit. When Antonio comes home, not only does he have to carefully maneuver his comically wide car from scraping against the narrow walls of the garbage, he has to carefully maneuver around the dog shit, which he fails to do. So we have to see the car’s tire run over dog shit… in extreme close-up. Again, arthouse movie, with a capital “A.” Yes, I get it, the dog shit is a metaphor for the secrets that Antonio is keeping from Sofia, and his car driving over said dog shit symbolizes his failure to keep said secrets. Doesn’t change the fact it’s disgusting to look at. It’s also disgusting when Cleo finally gets around to cleaning up the dog shit with a broom and dustpan… also in extreme close-up. Because, yes, I get it, she’s probably knows Antonio is having an affair, and she’s keeping it a secret from Sofia, hence cleaning up Antonio’s mess. Later on, Sofia drives the car, scraping the sides of it along the garbage’s walls the whole way through, further symbolizing the marriage falling apart. Lastly, after Antonio has left Sofia and their children, Sofia comes home with a significantly smaller car, which fits perfectly inside the garbage. Because, yes, I get, Antonio was overcompensating, and now Sofia is being more practical.

Other such weird scenes that happen solely for symbolic reasons are one scene in which Fermin shows off his sword fighting skills to Cleo… while he’s completely naked, so there’s technically two swords being swung around all over the place. And a scene of Professor Zovek, a professional wrestler and television personality, teaching yoga to Fermin’s paramilitary group. Needless to say, these scene serve next to no purpose to the actual plot, they are just hilariously awkward scenes that exist because that’s what Cuaron’s vision called for.

The closing moments of the movie feature Sofia and Cleo taking Sofia’s four children to a beach, where Cleo has to rescue two of the children from drowning under the crushing waves. Afterwards, Cleo confesses that she secretly didn’t want to have her baby, and now regrets that her wish came true. It's here that Sofia and her children give Cleo a loving embrace, symbolizing that she is a part of their family. It’s a touching moment, and should have been the end of the movie, but then the movie goes on for a few more minutes longer than it should have.

This is a deeply personal movie for Cuaron, and I feel that only the people of Mexico City can truly appreciate it. Cuaron’s trademark long takes are beautiful to watch, and everything is well directed, so the three Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Director, and Best Foreign Film were well deserved. But the movie does have scenes that will no doubt rub people the wrong way. The most severe example would be the horrible bedside manners of the doctor who tries to deliver Cleo’s baby. It’s bad enough that he’s unable to resuscitate the baby, but then he coldly, and matter of factly tells Cleo “Your baby is dead. Here, we’ll let you hold her for a minute or two. Alright, that’s long enough, now that you bonded with her, I’m going to take her away”. That’s more or less what he says and does. A lesser example would be the treatment of the family dog. He’s constantly ignored by everyone in the family, even if he’s barking all the time, no one cleans up after him except for one scene, and it’s only after Cleo loses her baby that she finally pays attention to him. Like I said, minor example, but it irritated me as a dog lover.

In the end, Roma will be remembered for being the little Netflix movie that could. Because of the success it had at numerous award ceremonies, we now have the movie industry’s biggest names like Steven Spielberg debating over if Netflix should even be allowed to qualify for the Oscars at all. Frankly, the current rules of the Oscars are that in order to qualify, your movie must be played in a Los Angeles or New York located theater, for at least one week, anytime during a calendar year. Netflix did that for Roma, and while I’m not a fan of the movie, if voters deemed it worthy of winning Oscars, then I’m not against it winning any.

Overall, I really can’t recommend this movie to just anyone. If you’re curious to see it, go ahead and give it a try, but I can guarantee that you won’t find it all that entertaining. This movie was made for very peculiar tastes, not to just any common, everyday movie watcher. That concludes this fanpicked review. And remember, when it comes to the media that you consume, be like Indiana Jones, and chose wisely.