Domésticas: O Filme

"Domésticas" is a funny, yet loving look at the daily lives of a group of Brazilian housemaids: their dreams, sorrows and joys. Based on a stage play, the movie has lots of monologues towards the watcher but, trust me, they're never boring. The ensemble acting is very good.

This "little" film directed by Fernando Meirelles ("City of God", "The Constant Gardener") and Nando Olival, is witty and light-hearted enough to make you feel good for 1 ½ hour. It doesn't try to show the housemaids as clowns, but as normal, decent human beings in their hard, overlooked profession.

My vote is 8.

This film squanders an opportunity to make an important social statement. Brazil has a larger gap between rich and poor than any country in the world. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the contrast between the women who work as domestic household servants and the people they work for. This film zeros in on the personal lives of five of these women. They all share a deep antipathy to their employers, yet the employers are never shown. Thus we never get to see the basis of their antipathy, and it is too easy to chalk this up to mere envy, when it is probably much more. This is hinted at when one of the maids treats a pizza delivery boy very much like the way she is probably treated by her employer.

The first half of the film is very slow moving and a chore to get through. The second half picks up somewhat. The story at first is hard to follow, the story lines are blurred, and the characters are at first hard to distinguish from one another. Perhaps that is the film's point; your guess is as good as mine. But this is an overall bore that could have been much better.

Here in Oz, as I suspect in most places, we mainly get fed big Hollywood movies. So this movie, although possibly of a "lower" quality with "lesser ability" actors (although both of those points are highly arguable), was very very interesting because it was quite "different". I mean you would never see say, Julia Roberts or Gwyneth Paltrow in exactly this sort of movie; and I would speculate that actresses of their caliber in fact may not be as convincing as these ones were. So for those of you who say that this or that in the movie was "poor"; with respect, I think that you have missed the point.

This film, a bitter sweet comedic drama, deals with the rough, intertwined lives of a handful of 'domestics' in the largest metropolis in Brazil (and in South America). Adapted from a hit play of the same name on the Sao Paulo stage, the big screen enhances all aspects of the play considerably. One would not think this film had its origin in a play. Such is the success of the adapted screenplay, that the wonders of cinematic touches shine brilliantly.

The plot takes us through the day to day work, and personal lives of the characters, who all know each other, and in some cases, share intimate personal lives as well. Their poignant struggle against the challenges of the huge metropolis, and the difficult balancing of work, family, and different inter personal relationships, is poignantly told. This is one of the freshest, most interesting takes on the plight and delights of domestics, I have ever seen, and I highly recommend the film.

In São Paulo, the lives of five domestic household servants along a few days is presented in this movie, showing their daily affairs, dreams and relationship with their employees. First of all, this movie is made for Brazilians only, who are aware of our social problems, and not for foreigners, who could not understand how a person works 26 days per month, sometimes 14 hours per day, earning about US$ 80,00 per month. Many jokes are related to the wrong way of speaking and accent from the country (specially from the North of Brazil) of most household servants, who mostly are illiterate and come from very poor and humble areas, trying to have a better life in the big city (specially in Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo). I myself cannot laugh of the situation of these poor workers. This movie loses the chance to criticize a serious social problem, being too much shallow for my taste. Anyway, there are great interpretations and a good structure for a low budget movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): 'Domésticas – O Filme' ('Domestic Household Servants – The Movie')