Alfonso Cuaron’s most personal film ‘Roma’ claims the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

“It is no mere movie – it’s a vision… where every image and every emotion is perfectly set in place.”

Ganito ang pagsasalarawan ni film critic Owen Gleiberman sa pinakabagong obra ng award-winning Mexican filmmaker na si Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Gravity) na pinamagatang “Roma,” na siyang ginawaran kamakailan ng Golden Lion award, ang pinakamataas na parangal sa prestihiyosong 75^th Venice Film Festival na ginanap sa Lido di Venezia, Italy.

Nagwagi rin ang “The Favourite” ni Yorgos Lanthimos ng Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, gayon din sina Willem Dafoe (Best Actor, At Eternity’s Gate), Olivia Colman (Best Actress, The Favourite), Joel Coen at Ethan Coen (best screenplay, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs), Jennifer Kent (Special Jury Prize, The Nightingale), Baykali Ganambarr (Best Young Actor), at Jacques Audiard (Silver Lion for Best Director, The Sisters Brothers).

Mula sa Participant Media at Esperanto Filmoj, si Cuaron din ay nagsilbing editor at producer ng pelikula. Hawak naman ng Netflix ang distribusyon nito ngunit wala pang inaanunsyong petsa para sa theatrical release.

A rapturously beautiful masterpiece

Sinusundan ng kwento ng Roma ang isang domestic worker na si Cleo, isang indigenous na babaeng mula sa Mixteco heritage at nagtatrabaho para alagaan ang mga pamilya ng isang middle-class family sa Mexico City noong 1971.

Ipinangalan ang Spanish-language drama mula sa distrito ng Roma kung saan lumaki ang writer-director-cinematographer nito na si Cuaron. Ito rin ang unang beses na siya mismo ang cinematographer.

Inilarawan naman ng AFP na “luminous performance” at “heart of the film” ang pagganap ni Yalitza Aparicio bilang Cleo, na unang pagkakataon pa lang umarte sa pelikula.

Dagdag naman ni Cuaron sa AFP, “Cleo is based on my babysitter when I was young. We were a family together. But when you grow up with someone you love you don’t discuss their identity. So for this film I was forced to see myself as this woman, a member of the lower classes, from the indigenous population. This is a point of view I had never had before.”

Ipinalabas din ang Roma sa Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, at New York Film Festival.

His most essential film

Sa isang eklusibong panayam ng IndieWire, ibinahagi ni Cuaron ang naging paglalakbay niya sa paggawa ng naturang pelikula, na aniy,a ang matagal na niyang pinagtatrabuhan simula pa sa kanyang unang pelikula na “Sólo con Tu Pareja” (1991).

“I always wanted to make a film and be comfortable with it when I finished it. With ‘Roma,’ I was satisfied with it when we finished. I was very happy with it, and that’s because it’s the first film I was fully able to convey what I wanted to convey as a film. It’s a story in many different shapes and hints of emotions that have been present since the moment I wanted to be a director.”

Itinuturing din ang obra na semi-autobiographical dahil makikita rin dito ang bahagi ng kabataan ng Oscar-winning director sa Mexico kung saan hango ang mga eksena sa kanyang mga alaala noong 1960-1970s. At maliban kay Cleo, matingkad ang pangkalatang representasyon nito sa mga kababaihan kabilang ang ina ng director at isa pang domestic helper sa kabuuan ng pelikula.

Hudyat din ng Roma ang pagbabalik ni Cuaron sa Mexico na unang beses simula nang gawin nito ang “Y Tu Mamá También” (2001), at inilarawan ng director ang pagkakataon na isang “charged experience” dahil kinailangan niyang harapin muli ang kanyang nakaraan.

“It’s about a moment of time that shaped me, but also a moment of time that shaped a country. It was the beginning of a long transition in Mexico,” ang kwento ni Cuaron sa IndieWire.