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Review: Cama Adentro (Live-In Maid, 2004) ★★★★½

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Some filmmakers try and fail to capture the day-to-day struggles of both the rich and poor&comma; ending up with something closer to an after-school special than a quality film&semi; as an example of this&comma; one need not look further than Paul Haggis’ <em>Crash<&sol;em> &lpar;2004&rpar; which&comma; despite being more about race than class differences&comma; approaches its subject with all the artistic nuance of a bull in a china shop&period; Despite the difficulty with translating these kinds of stories to the big screen&comma; one subject that has always captivated audiences is the formerly rich&semi; when societies and economies crumble&comma; it is the wealthy that have the farthest to fall&period; Though it is not enjoyable to see anyone descend into a state of destitution&comma; there is a sense of grim satisfaction that we feel when seeing the snobbish as paupers&comma; begging for mercy from those that they had previously treated as inferior beings&period; Nonetheless&comma; it is depressing&comma; because people are still people&comma; and suffering is still suffering&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em>&comma; which actually translates to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bed Inside&comma;” a reference that audiences will not understand until the very end of the film&comma; was released in the United States as <em>Live-In Maid<&sol;em> &lpar;and in Spain as <em>Señora Beba<&sol;em>&rpar;&period; Though the US title implies that a maid will be the focus of the story&comma; it is actually a former socialite and the employer of said maid that receives the majority of our attention&period; Despite the lopsided screen time&comma; The film still finds time to focus on the lives of both the employer and employee&comma; juxtaposing their differing experiences of the same historical event&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">The film takes place in Buenos Aires during the economic crisis of the late 90’s and early 2000’s&period; Following a period of economic growth in the 1990’s&comma; the crisis saw unprecedented unemployment and poverty&comma; riots&comma; and the fall of the presiding government&period; The film focuses on Beba &lpar;Norma Aleandro&rpar;&comma; a middle-aged woman who&comma; without her former wealth&comma; is now relegated to selling beauty products to her friends and local businesses&period; Her daughter doesn’t return her calls&comma; and her ex-husband&comma; whose business has kept him afloat during the economic collapse&comma; offers her little more than sympathy&period; As a result&comma; Beba spends her days guzzling whiskey in her empty apartment&comma; desperately clinging to the vestiges of her past&period; The one person who has remained by her side is Dora &lpar;Norma Argentina&rpar;&comma; the maid who has put up with Beba’s mistreatment for decades&period; However&comma; as the crisis takes hold of the country&comma; no one is able to escape its clutches&period; Beba promises Dora payment for her work&comma; but when she defaults for several months&comma; Dora decides to leave and pursue work elsewhere&comma; leaving Beba to overcome the humiliation of losing everything on her own&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">It is risky to use such a stark juxtaposition as the basis of any film&comma; as it runs the risk of losing all subtlety&comma; but <em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> never falls into this trap&period; Dora is a maid who has always been a member of the working poor&comma; spending the majority of her life saving up to build a very humble house for herself and her boyfriend&comma; Miguel&period; So when the economy collapses&comma; her life continues much the same as it did before&period; This is merely the newest hardship in a long string of hardships&period; On the other hand&comma; Beba&comma; who it seems has never known hard times&comma; is like a ship lost at sea&comma; unable to gain any bearing in this frightening new world&period; We are made to empathize with both women&comma; since their circumstances are&comma; in a sense&comma; equally pitiable&comma; albeit for different reasons&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;1261" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-1261" style&equals;"width&colon; 850px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-1261" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;philosophyinfilm&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;01&sol;liveinmaid1-300x167&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Live-In Maid movie" width&equals;"850" height&equals;"473" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-1261" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Cama Adentro &lpar;2004&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">What is most striking about <em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> is the simplicity with which the filmmakers tell their story&period; The larger crisis is only occasionally mentioned&comma; allowing the viewer to focus on the results rather than the cause&period; Every small injustice and humiliation is amplified&comma; recreating the sensation of living in a state of chaos and financial uncertainty&period; Sure&comma; there was a coup taking place and riots in the streets&comma; but this film ignores the more attention-grabbing aspects of this time in history in favor of a more realistic focus on the human aspect of economic downturns&period; The drama is inherent in the story&comma; so the style is notably restrained&comma; which only adds to the quiet despair that both Beba and Dora experience&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">In addition to being an incredibly well-crafted film&comma; it also benefits from incredible performances&period; While Norma Argentina does an excellent job as the downtrodden&comma; under-appreciated maid&comma; that&comma; despite her mistreatment&comma; still feels obligated to ensure her employer’s wellbeing&comma; it is Norma Aleandro that shines&period; She is completely believable as a woman who insists on keeping up appearances&comma; even as her world crumbles around her&period; Though the film is a masterpiece of minimalist storytelling&comma; it is Aleandro’s portrayal of Beba that elevates <em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> above a plethora of other films that chronicle people’s slide into poverty&period; At times&comma; the film is actually comical&period; Her adherence to the old way of doing things is absurd in light of her new circumstances&comma; in which she hardly has enough money for food&comma; let alone the luxuries that she sees as basic necessities&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Even if one ignores the ingenious subtlety of this film &lpar;which they shouldn’t&rpar;&comma; or Aleandro’s amazing performance as Beba &lpar;which is nearly impossible&rpar;&comma; they cannot ignore its historical significance&period; The film is a portrait of a time in Argentina’s history that was both shocking in its severity and unsettling in its proximity to the present&period; It is often difficult for filmmakers to give an historical account of the recent past without succumbing to their own predispositions or flawed recollections of the events themselves&period; Thankfully&comma; <em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> completely ignores the politics and the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;important” events that made headlines&comma; instead telling a story that is more telling than any news story could hope to be&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">At times it is funny and at times incredibly depressing&comma; but as a whole&comma; <em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> is a must watch film and a staple of Argentinian cinema&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">&half; out of 5<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><em>Cama Adentro<&sol;em> is available to purchase via Amazon <&sol;span><span class&equals;"s2"><u><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;B0013URS2E&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;B0013URS2E&amp&semi;linkId&equals;0d2a8689fdceca375a7e995fd6d891ef">here<&sol;a><u><&sol;u><&sol;u><&sol;span><span class&equals;"s1">&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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