The Maid (La Nana) 2009

In Chile between 6 and 12% of households have ‘help’. Someone who lives with the family, cleaning their sheets and their clothes, cooking for them, helping to raise their children but politely detached. Never quite part of the family- an intimate employee. Chilean protégé director, Sebastián Silva grew up in such a household. Half raised by two squabbling maids.

Silva's familiarity with the idea of a stranger in the family helped in his creation of the excruciating opening scene. A wealthy family of six hush each other over a table of dirty plates and small packages and birthday cake while a solemn, uniformed woman stares into a plate of leftovers in a colourless kitchen. The fuss is for the uniformed woman, Raquel's birthday. She will accept her gifts, blow out the candles, and then clear their plates. The clumsy handheld photography and indistinguishable babble of voices makes the whole scene more awkward, and Raquel more alien to the family.

The alienation of Raquel is a blatant but enjoyable social comment on the borderline subjugation of the live-in cleaner, as we see her deal with the sort of stains the teenage son leaves on his bed clothes and uncomfortably averting her eyes to the naked father. Such uncomfortable sexualised aspects are made worse when we learn Raquel has given so much of her life to being ‘part of the family’ she is still a virgin. Her sparse room is littered with sad, tired teddy bears, and her awkward, unfashionable clothing on her day off add to the impression of her detachment from the family and from the world. Catalina Saavedra is flawless in her portrayal of awkward, saving the film from becoming another ‘seditious servant’ movie as the nice man from the New York Times put it or the Latin American Hand that Rocks the Cradle.

Critics have righty latched on to her disquieting lead. Saavedra is a relative newcomer to the big screen, and definitely new to international acclaim at the ripe old age of 43 but she cuts an exceptional unconventional lead. Her scowling, challenging servant guides the camera and, despite her savage action towards those she sees as challenging her closeness to the family who employ her, maintains our sympathy towards her.

When her character’s mysterious headaches prompt the family’s employment of extra help that drive the plot, they also prompt Raquel’s transformation. Raquel locks them out the house, cleans the shower with undiluted bleach each time they shower, and generally fights to keep them from anything like the comfort she has in the family home, like the true controlling female villain she acts for the first hour of the film. Her first victim is the young and quiet Peruvian, Mercedes who at first seems a showcase for Chilean racism against its Andean neighbours. The girl who is already relegated to the lowest class of jobs must endure Raquel’s disdain and cleaning all she touches- it could be seen as another show of the xenophobia that’s on the rise in Chile as Peruvian immigration has increased.

But it goes further. Raquel uses the same treatment on every new employee, including on a burly older woman the family’s matriarch (or grandma as they more affectionately know her) sends in to quash the ‘maid fights’, who mounts the roof and wrestles with Raquel to almost surreal comic effect. Even the new kitten must face Raquel’s wrath for interfering with ‘her family’.

The humanising affect of the third challenger to Raquel’s position, Lucy and her cries of ‘what have they done to you’ transform the films conclusion, showing Raquel as a product of the family and her work. Suddenly we’re shown a Raquel laughing at soap operas in bed talking through the corridor to a former nemesis, and even embarking on a romantic fling. We even hear from her mother, a blood relative that’s unexpected, even unimaginable.

Raquel’s transformation against the backdrop of well-meaning and religious if imperfect employers and the struggle to find a place among them makes for fascinating viewing, the documentary-style camera, convincing performances and scarce use of music making for an immersive experience. The Maid picked up Spanish language awards left, right and centre but was sadly overlooked in the English language awards, save a Golden Globe nomination. Please don’t make the same mistake.

Director- Sebastián Silva
Starring- Catalina Saavedra, Mariana Loyola, Claudia Celedón
Runtime- 95 minutes
Language- Spanish

Further Watching

Maids (Domésticas) 2001

Episodic tales of five women in domestic service in Brazil, and their opportunities missed and dreams lost. By the good man who brought us the nominated for everything, winner of nothing masterpiece City of God.

Old Cats (Gatos Viejos) 2010

We’re still waiting for this one on our side of the Atlantic but Silva’s latest reunites much of La Nana’s cast and has been getting some very tasty reviews.

Further Reading

http://www.uab.es/servlet/Satellite?cid=1096481466574&pagename=UABDivulga%2FPage%2FTemplatePageDetallArticleInvestigar&param1=1182926877988

Interesting article about education and Peruvian immigrants in Chile.

The Secret in their Eyes (El Secreto de sus Ojos) 2009

In 1974 Juan Perón, three times president of Argentina, is laid to rest and his wife Isabelita is sworn in, the country’s first female president.

In the world of Benjamin Espósito (Ricardo Darín) a man says goodbye to his wife for the last time, before she is raped and murdered in her own bed by a man who will not be brought to justice.

In 2009 Argentina is once again presided over by a female president, Christina Kirchner, and the prosecutors who worked the girl’s case are catching up for the first time in decades. Espósito is retired, an aspiring novelist now. Irene, the object of his desires, is DA, married and a proud mother. It seems the case of that girl 35 years ago is haunting the old man, he wants to write about it and it’s brought him back to her office.

The Secret in their Eyes is the story of men coming to terms with things. Getting over them. For Espósito it is his unrequited love for Irene, something he channels in his novel, and his failure to the murdered girl’s husband, a quiet banker who asks only to see justice done. To be allowed come to terms with what was done to his wife, an act of another man who could not come to terms with a woman who didn’t love him. Women, like Kirchner and Mrs. Perón, watch over or provide the incentive for their actions.

But in the way of the husband and the prosecutor stand corrupt officials, government snitches and good old fashioned Argentinean racism, as a Bolivian builder is arrested and beaten into confession.

What makes Campanella’s film unusual though is that it isn’t a ‘whodunit’- the lead character figures that out, and why, within the first half an hour. The tension, despite the flashes forward, is all in how and if the case will be resolved and why the case haunts Darín’s character. It’s also to be found in the unusual framing of every shot, that bring us too close for comfort, blurring Espósito’s Buenos Aires, creating a fantastic sense of claustrophobia, particularly in the scenes at the football stadium where they hunt the culprit.

Another rare jewel to be found in this Oscar winner (only the second to be won by any studio or filmmaker on the continent) is a valuable, sympathetic and interesting comedy sidekick. Guillermo Francella is a successful Argentinean comedian completely new to the world of gritty thrillers, or any sort of drama, but in the role of alcoholic Sandoval he shines, bringing humour, nobility and humanity to the actions of a dark and unhappy character. Another man unable to let go of something, in this case the whisky bottle, with a wife all too ready to let go of him, he was potentially a character who could take away from the tension. However Eduardo Sacheri and Campanella’s tort script allow Sandoval to be both foil in the hero’s jaunts into rural Argentina and convincing barroom philosopher and genius in some of Buenos Aires’ seedier establishments.

It isn’t so difficult to see how this film landed the Oscar really. Latin America is on the rise in all senses and Ricardo Darín looks set to be Argentina’s biggest export after beef. The soundtrack is haunting, the camera work exciting and the story is both political enough to be ‘worthy’ and slick enough to be accessible and enjoyable. The only lament I would sing for it is that in a film set in part in both of Argentina’s female presidencies, using a rape as the jumping off point for plot and featuring a female DA it is sad the women are a little flat. Soledad Villamil plays her character convincingly, and it is a smart character but she seems divided between exploiting her sexuality to catch a rapist and luring the gaze of the men who work for her.

However that’s far from enough to spoil the film. If you haven’t encountered director or star before this is the film to do it. The Secret in their Eyes is slick, original and will keep you on your toes until the last peel of the soundtrack’s lonely piano.

Director- Juan José Campanella
Starring- Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Guillermo Francella
Runtime- 127 minutes
Language- Spanish

Further Watching

The Son of the Bride (El Hijo de la Novia) 2001

Darín and Campanella’s last Oscar nominated collaboration, part two in a successful trilogy.

9 Queens (Nueve Reinas) 2000

Gritty and witty crime thriller that brought Darín to international attention.

The Official Story (La Historia Oficial) 1985

Argentina’s last Oscar winner, set in the 70s and looking at corruption once more but with far more focus on family and the Dirty War.

Well, hello there...

I have an uncontrollable lust for the hispanic!
Politics, literature, short Peruvian men in bars, and the cinema. Especially the cinema.
Cast adrift back on my native soil it is a window to a continent, cultures and languages I adore.
And frankly I feel it's under-appreciated.

So here is my ramshackle, non-chronological, opinionated but loving guide to that cinema.

I'm aiming for a movie a week but with dvd funds temperamental and local cinemas worse it may be a little shakey.
Bare with me and I promise to show you a wonderful part of this fair and turbulent world, framed by masters.

First up, the second Argentinian film ever to take home an Oscar, 2009's The Secret in their Eyes or El Secreto de sus Ojos.