Review of Roma 4/5/20

The movie Roma centers around 1970’s Mexico. The movie is in black and white, forcing the audience to focus on the details and words rather than the colors. Even in black and white, the differences in social class, age, economic class, and race are evident. The first scene portrays an abundance of water – the washing of the floors, the statement that the dog needed a bath, and the toilet flushing. Throughout the beginning of the film, there seems to be a theme of an excess of water. The film continues as it shows Cleo cleaning the rest of the house before finishing and running out of the house covered with gated windows to pick up a child from school. Despite this, Cleo seems close with the children and the family as she takes a moment from cleaning to play dead with one boy, pauses to watch a tv show with the family, and tucks the little girl into bed. The household consists of the mother and father (Mrs. Sofia and  Dr. Antonio), their four kids, the grandmother named Mrs. Teresa, and three workers including Cleo. Throughout the movie, Cleo discovers she is pregnant and the father disappeared, Dr. Antonio travels to Quebec and distances himself from the family before moving to live with his mistress, Mrs. Sofia takes the children on vacation and invited Cleo.  Later we see a scene of violence unfold as Cleo is shopping for furniture for her baby and is confronted by her baby’s father with a gun before she goes into labor. The baby is born dead and the scene shifts to the house, which also seems dead compared to earlier in the film when children were running and screaming and playing.