Introduction
Out of all film genres, drama is the one that most often enables people to ponder social issues. The movie Roma directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is one such drama movie. At the same time, while covering major social problems, Roma manages to tie them to the personal struggles of people. Set in 1970s Mexico, Roma lets the audience gain an insight into the country’s sociopolitical challenges of the period. Specifically, the movie presents the viewers with a perspective of a working-class woman named Cleo. Roma’s story showcases the experience of people who live during a time of considerable societal changes. The movie shows how dramatic events in society become intertwined with the tragedies in people’s lives. Roma addresses many societal concerns in Mexico, including the various manifestations of patriarchy, such as absent father figures (Demircan 2020). Essentially, the movie provides a comprehensive image of Mexico in the 1970s. The film highlights the major impact of class, race, and gender on the life of people in Mexican society.
Historical background
Before addressing the main themes, it is important to deliver a basic historical background on the film’s events. The film is set in 1970s Mexico, which at that time was ruled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The organization was extensively engaged in repression and fraud to keep power. One of the key policies of the ruling party was to destroy the opposition. Such measures involved carrying out attacks against insurgents in rural areas of Mexico (Aguilar Camín and Meyer 2021). The campaign included massacres, mass rapes, and the destruction of large villages populated mostly by native people like Cleo. The events described in Roma concern the time when the violence of the authorities began to affect all members of Mexican society. In the late 1960s, the movement of students and opposition protestors conducted a considerable campaign against government repression. The event ended with the killing of many demonstrators by government forces (Brachet-Marquez 1992). The events of Roma follow the horrific legacy of 1968. The drama of the characters is depicted as part of the larger picture of the tension between the PRI and the opposition.
Class issues
As mentioned above, Cleo is an indigenous woman whose family has been living in Mexico for many generations. La Roma is an upper-class district of Mexico which is the main scene of the movie events. Cleo works as a maid for a relatively affluent family whose members are completely secluded from Mexico’s social problems. The members of the family, especially Antonio, the patriarch, are the direct beneficiaries of the country’s economic policies. At the same time, Cleo’s position as a domestic worker is also a product of Mexico’s authority’s initiatives. Specifically, the failure of the agrarian reform, which prevented thousands of peasants from owning land, led them to cities. Due to their limited education, former peasants such as Cleo had to do low-pay jobs, including housekeeping. Thus, the movie shows that the government’s actions were favorable for some people but devastating for the poor. The family Cleo works for doe not notice the class division. Moreover, the family members treat Cleo mostly as a servant and not a human. Cuarón highlights the dehumanization of Cleo by making her speak only rarely to show her powerlessness.
Race issues
Additionally, Roma shows how the class division in Mexico was mainly based on racial and ethnic inequality. Cleo is an indigenous woman, while the family she works for is white. Such a detail highlights the barrier existing in Mexican society between different ethnic groups. Cuarón notes how white people not only conquered Mexico but also continued to exploit its people. Moreover, inequality is also evident due to the fact that Cleo was forced to leave her native land. The agrarian reform became a disaster for the indigenous people, and they did not have any positive alternatives. The only possible option was to move to cities and become voluntary slaves for white people. Cuarón shows how Cleo cannot be accepted on equal terms in a racist society in Mexico. For instance, at the end of the movie, Cleo saves the family’s child (Cuarón 2018). Yet, Sofía, the mother of the family, only thanks her and makes her return to her usual duties (Cerrillo Garnica 2019). Such a decision indicates the inequality between different races in Mexico and how white people refuse to help the natives.
Gender issues
At the same time, apart from racial and class problems, there are also those related to gender. Specifically, the movie brings attention to the issue of single mothers in a patriarchal society. In fact, the aforementioned gender issue goes beyond racial and class boundaries and affects all women. Cleo bears a child from Fermín, her lover, who eventually leaves her. Moreover, Fermín completely refuses to recognize Cleo’s child as his own. Additionally, when Fermín tells Cleo that it is not his child, he calls her “gata,” a derogatory term (Marcantonio 2019). Such an attitude demonstrated by Fermín highlights how unfair patriarchal society is towards women. Nevertheless, Sofía also suffers from the patriarchal society in Mexico. Antonio cheats on Sofia with a young woman and leaves her along with the children. Moreover, Sofia tries to conceal her husband’s infidelity from the children to avoid traumatizing them. Both women suffer the same drama of being left by their male partners. Thus, Roma highlights the idea that a patriarchal society is unfair to all women, irrespective of their social status.
Female empowerment
Nevertheless, Cuarón also demonstrates to the audience that despite patriarchy, women manage to resist and embrace empowerment. The theme of female empowerment in the movie also corresponds to the second wave of feminism during the 1970s (Mazierska 2020). Despite their social and racial division, Sofia provides assistance to Cleo when she becomes pregnant. Similarly, Cleo helps Sofia with raising her children and caring for them. Moreover, Cleo even saves one of the children from droning while risking her own life. It is possible to consider that Cuarón’s idea was to show Cleo and Sofia as feminist figures. Both of the women manage to live safely and successfully without men. Additionally, the personal tragedies and drama of the two women strengthen their bond, bringing them closer. Since both women go through painful breakups, they are forced to create an alternative to the man-centered approach (Demircan 2020). As a result, Cleo and Sofia make a step toward creating a relationship that is mutually beneficial and built on equality.
How did the movie was received?
Due to the fact that the move raised many social issues in Mexico, Roma received both criticism and praise. Roma was not well received by the Mexican audience, specifically those people who live in Mexico City. In other words, the film generated a political controversy and was accused of creating a false narrative. Specifically, critics argued that there was a range of details and features of Mexico City that were intentionally left out (Marcantonio 2019). Such an arrangement prevented the international audience from being able to grasp the entirety of Roma’s context. At the same time, many critics also approved of the movie’s message and story. Some journalists noted that Roma brought the issue faced by Mexico to global attention (Marcantonio 2019). The controversy surrounding the movie indicates that there are still ideologies in Mexican society that can be dated back to pre-colonization times (Cerrillo Garnica 2019). The lack of unity among critics in response to Roma also shows that the movie covered important topics.
Conclusion
Roma is a movie that represents the voice of those who usually remain unheard and unacknowledged by society. Through Cleo, a poor woman who is forced to work as a maid for an affluent family, Cuaron highlights the problems in Mexican society. Although the story is set in the 1970s, the topics raised in the movie are still relevant. In fact, the issues of race, inequality, and class are universal for all societies on the planet. As a result, the global audience watching Roma is guaranteed to recognize common sociopolitical problems also affecting their countries. Additionally, Cuaron brings the attention of the audience to the issue of a patriarchal society and women’s position in it. At the same time, Cuaron shows that female empowerment is a solution that can help women overcome any social boundary.
References
Aguilar Camín, Héctor and Meyer, Lorenzo. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, 1910–1989. New York, USA: the University of Texas Press, 2021.
Brachet-Marquez, Viviane. 1992. “Explaining Sociopolitical Change in Latin America: The Case of Mexico.” Latin American Research Review 27, no. 3(1992), 91–122.
Cerrillo Garnica. Omar. “Roma: A Portrait of Mexican Segregational Society.” Art Style, Art & Culture International Magazine 1, no, 1(2019), 25–34.
Demircan, Birol. “Masculine Domination and Gender in Bourdieusian Sociology.” In International Perspectives on Feminism and Sexism in the Film Industry, edited by Gülşah Sarı and Derya Çetin, 200–211. Hershey: IGI Global, 2019.
Marcantonio, Carla. “Roma: Silence, Language, and the Ambiguous Power of effect.” Film Quarterly 72, no. 4, (2019), 38–45.
Mazierska, Ewa, and Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord Kristensen. Third Cinema, World Cinema and Marxism. New York: Bloomsbury, 2020.
Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Espectáculos Fílmicos El Coyúl, 2018).