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Review: The Maid (La Nana, 2009) ★★★★

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">It is not easy to infuse comedy into a story revolving around class differences&comma; especially without succumbing to crass jokes and offensive stereotypes&period; In South American countries in particular&comma; maids and servants are often grossly underpaid&comma; undervalued&comma; and frequently the butt of the joke in films and television&period; Much more than in the United States&comma; &&num;8220&semi;the help&&num;8221&semi; is expected to be on call 24&sol;7 for their upper class employers&comma; all in exchange for a place to sleep and a horrible wage&period; This disparity&comma; while terrible in reality&comma; has become a source of humor that is somewhat unique to Latin American culture&period; The image of the destitute&comma; but nonetheless loyal maid is best exemplified in famed Argentinian comic&comma; Antonio Gasalla’s portrayal of Kika&comma; a middle-aged maid who passively accepts her miserable existence&comma; and is always denied even the most meager of requests&period; While Chilean director Sebastián Silva does not play with this dynamic as much as expected in <em>The Maid<&sol;em>&comma; it is still a necessary device underpinning the narrative&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The eponymous maid in this comedy-drama is Raquel &lpar;Catalina Saavedra&rpar;&comma; the tight-lipped woman who has dutifully served the same upper-middle class family for over 23 years&period; Her employers&comma; Pilar &lpar;Claudia Celedon&rpar; and Edmundo &lpar;Alejandro Goic&rpar;&comma; are very attached to Raquel&comma; as<span class&equals;"Apple-converted-space"> <&sol;span>is their son&comma; Lucas &lpar;Agustin Silva&rpar;&period; However&comma; Raquel maintains an ambivalent relationship with their teenage daughter&comma; Camila &lpar;Andrea Garcia-Huidobro&rpar;&period; When Raquel struggles to finish all the daily chores and begins having fainting spells&comma; Pilar insists on hiring additional help&period; Raquel is staunchly against the idea&comma; and&comma; fearing that these intruders will undermine her relationship with the family&comma; does everything in her power to oust each new maid without remorse&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The film relies heavily on the the quality of Saavedra’s performance as Raquel&comma; and thankfully she is completely believable as the bitter&comma; scheming maid&period; She spreads lies&comma; actively undoes the work of her competition&comma; and even locks them out of the house and pretends not to hear their pleas for help&period; Raquel is ruthless&comma; and this is what makes the film work so well&period; It is funny because there is a certain truth to it&period; For anyone who has experienced life with servants&comma; particularly in South American countries&comma; there tends to be a barrage of back-biting and infighting&comma; all for the sake of boosting one’s image in the eyes of the family&period; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">There is a strange love-hate relationship that is common between these maids&comma; cooks&comma; gardeners&comma; etc&period; and their employers&period; The employers supply work for those who have few other options&comma; often providing them with a free living space&comma; in addition to a modest income and a few other perks&period; However&comma; this usually comes at a steep price&period; Employees are given very little &lpar;if any&rpar; time off&comma; and are expected to be completely loyal and accepting of the family’s every whim&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1224" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1224" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1224" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;12&sol;MV5BMTU3MTE2MTU1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDk5MTM5MQ&commat;&commat;&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;SY360&lowbar;SX640&lowbar;AL&lowbar;-300x169&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Catalina Saavedra in The Maid 2009" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"478" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1224" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Maid &lpar;2009&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">While Raquel’s employers in the film generally treat her as a member of the family&comma; to a degree&comma; there is still a pervasive air of snobbishness and disregard for her needs&period; Early in the film&comma; the family throws a birthday party for Raquel&comma; who is almost too shy to make an appearance&period; Only minutes after accepting her presents&comma; Raquel offers to clean everything up&comma; and while Pilar initially resists&comma; she quickly gives in when she considers the fact that no one else is inclined to do the work&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The most interesting part of <em>The Maid<&sol;em> is that it dances the line between being an elitist and egalitarian comedy&period; On the one hand&comma; the film never portrays the family as decidedly caring&comma; and we are always aware of the difference in class status between Raquel and her employers&period; Whenever it seems as if Raquel is just one more member of the family&comma; this is undone by someone barking orders at her or quietly resenting her for even the slightest of mistakes&period; On the other hand&comma; the comedy of the film arises&comma; in part&comma; from the pathetic reality that is Raquel&&num;8217&semi;s life&period; She is a grown woman who sees her employers as her surrogate family&comma; and yet she is relegated to a tiny bedroom&comma; given little time off&comma; and considers paltry pleasures to be the height of luxury&period; We are meant to laugh at her misery&comma; and despite how it sounds&comma; it actually works quite well&period; Of course&comma; this is not all that makes <em>The Maid<&sol;em> so humorous&period; It is due in large part to the many pranks and misdeeds Raquel commits against the other maids&comma; fiercely defending the territory that is not even her own&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Stylistically&comma; <em>The Maid<&sol;em> has a very naturalistic&comma; gritty quality to it&period; At times&comma; the camera work and visual quality almost look like a home movie&comma; but this lends to the emphasis on Raquel’s station in life&period; Her life is low-quality&comma; so why shouldn’t the image be as well&quest; We see her life as it is&comma; without frills or embellishments&period; While her character does grow throughout the film&comma; she never loses those qualities that make her unique&comma; and yet somehow indicative of the bitter&comma; resentful&comma; and completely disadvantaged servile class&period; She slaves away for pennies&comma; makes little or no advancement in life&comma; but never loses her love <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">for the illusory place she calls home&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Rating&colon; <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2">&starf;&starf;&starf;&starf;<&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1"> out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;d like to watch <span class&equals;"s1"><em>The Maid<&sol;em> &comma; it is currently available to rent or purchase <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B003N0ZDLA&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;qf&lowbar;sp&lowbar;asin&lowbar;il&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;tag&equals;mjones34880c-20&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;B003N0ZDLA&amp&semi;linkId&equals;a66abc7fc0ee3f4f7d21b167b650f04a">via Amazon here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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