What is the Golden Globe-winning movie Roma about?
Tonight, January 6th, marks the 2019 Golden Globe Awards. And while you may have heard of most of the movies and TV shows nominated this year, there’s one film in particular that may be new to some: Roma, by writer and director Alfonso Cuarón (who also edited the film).
For those who don’t know, Roma—which was filmed completely in black and white—follows the life of Cleo (newcomer Yalitza Aparicio), an indigenous girl who works as a maid for a middle class family in early 1970s Mexico. Cuarón provides the viewer with an unflinchingly realistic portrayal of what life would have been like for a girl like Cleo at the time, as well as what daily life was like amid the backdrop of the country’s political violence. The subtle and quiet film is largely autobiographical, with Cuarón telling Vanity Fair that “ninety percent comes out of my memory”—with Cleo based on his childhood nanny, and the mother in the film based on his real-life mom.
#Roma (96%) wins Best Foreign Language Film at the #GoldenGIobes pic.twitter.com/ILny3HERjS
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) January 7, 2019
When describing his process for writing Cleo's character, he said, "I had extensive conversations with the real-life Cleo. Writing her character, I was forced for the first time in my life to see her as a woman [and to see] the complexities of her situation."
He continued: “A woman that comes from a more disadvantaged social class, that also comes from an indigenous heritage in a society that is ridden by class—and, in the Third World, there is a very perverse relationship between class and race.”
Cuarón also directed Children of Men and Y Tu Mama También, among many others projects. You can see Roma in select theaters now, as well as stream it on Netflix.
