jandesimpson
The pleasure of this modest but highly successful offering from Chile is the experience of watching a film unfold in a way that is contrary to one's expectations. Everything to begin with points toward an outcome that could be quite nasty. There is that gradual crescendo of menace remembered from such works as "Play Misty for Me" and "Mon Fils a Moi". We first meet the maid to an upper class Santiago family on her birthday when she reacts awkwardly to the attentions her employers bestow on her. A little later she obviously has her nose put out of joint when it is suggested that she needs an assistant as advancing years are beginning to affect her efficiency. To us she still appears quite young. There are just a few telltale signs that she may be a little past her best, health wise, but she still seems well able to do her job. Assistants one and two come and go, each driven away by the maid's intransigence in refusing to accept their role, accompanied by her ever darkening behaviour. By this stage in the film everything seems to have been set up for quite an awful showdown. But with the arrival of assistant number three the mood suddenly lightens. This isn't a sombre melodrama after all but a real feel-good flick, all the more pleasurable for this unexpected turn. It culminates in a deliciously pertinent closing shot of the maid taking part in the outdoor physical activity enjoyed by her third assistant. She is none the worse for wear and, for one brief moment, is even smiling.
Joe Maguire
La Nana (The Maid) was written and directed by Sebastiān Silva, and tells the story of a live-in maid working for an affluent Chilean family. The movie opens with Racquel (Catalina Saavedra) sitting alone in the kitchen eating a basic meal; whilst the family she works for dine in much more pleasant surroundings. After giving this first impression of an oppressed servant, Silva then gradually reveals the much more complex relationships which are at play, and Racquel, who has worked for the family for twenty-three years, is shown as more of a troubled member of the family than an employee. As the tagline says, "she's more or less family".Racquel has no life outside of the family home where she has worked for so long, and is suffering a kind of mid-life crisis, causing her to become ill and clash with the family. The family try to help her by bringing in extra staff, which leads to some funny moments as she tries desperately to cling on to her position at the centre of the household. Eventually she makes a friend, begins to get a life outside the home, and disaster is averted.The direction and cinematography are wonderful here; feeling at times more like documentary than fiction. Catalina Saavedra is utterly convincing in the lead role, and is well supported by all. There's very little music in this movie, but there is a theme song call AyAyAyAy which is entirely addictive. This is definitely worth a watch!
Daniel Torres
The film "La Nana" by Sebastian Silva is a well written and directed portrayal of a house-maids life about her and "her family". The first scene is very powerful because we catch Raquel eating alone in a separate room than the family she works for. She looks into the camera and it is as if she is staring straight at the audience and saying "welcome to my life". We begin to get a peak into Raquel's life and soon find out that she has no life. All she seems to know is her duties as a maid. In the family there is the lost mother ,Pilar, the father ,Mundo, who seems to only care about golf and miniature ships, the daughter,Camila, who does not get along with Raquel, the son, Lucas, who is Raquel's favorite, and the younger siblings. She knows that the family needs her more than she needs them; she knows all there is to know about the family and any secrets they may have. The film takes place when Raquel Faints while working and the family decides to get a new made. Raquel does not like the idea of a new maid and does what she needs to do to get rid of any new maids that enter "her" home.The film is easy to view and easy to absorb, which has much to do with the way the film is made. The film really seems to make the audience feel as if they are right there viewing the story unravel. The director, Sebastian Silva, decided to use hand-held cameras to make the film so that he can have lots of close up shots. Also, the film seems to be made in an actual home and not a set, so the feel of the scenery is real. Another thing that helped make the film seem very real was the fact the characters dressed in a very casual way so the costumes for the movie were not over the top. This film was a huge success for Silva. The film won a numerous amount of awards as well as international recognition. The film as a whole was amazing from the story to the actors and I would definitely recommend it.
bioconscious2009
All I knew was that it was a story about a live-in housekeeper/nanny who did not look too happy in the poster image. I also knew that things are complicated when you have help in the household because I am from India where part-time and full-time help are as common as a common sparrow - you notice it only when it makes too much noise. In the very first scene, Raquel, the maid, looks up from her plate at the kitchen table: her perch, her cage, her refuge. She looks straight at the camera and the spectators find themselves being stared down. Raquel seemed to be saying, "you watch, I'll show you what I can do!" and, "welcome to my life, ever see it from this side?" and because she was in uniform, she seemed to be speaking for all maids all over the world, "it's not funny!" I loved that moment. It spoke volumes. After more than two decades of her most youthful years used up cleaning after the kids, cooking, serving, and staying out of the way yet available when needed, Raquel is spent. Her symptoms include bad headaches, spells of dizziness and a perpetual glowering, smoldering expression, passive-aggressive to say the least. The feverish camera movements are synchronized perfectly with Raquel's perspective and Silva's intentions: to make us appreciate her perspective, the ascent and descent of her everyday life. Rising every morning before everyone else, showering, preparing breakfast and snacks for the kids, sending them to school, serving coffee in bed to her masters, vacuuming, scrubbing, laundering, popping pills as she goes along, and then one day finally falling down the stairs in a fainting spell. It had to be that or I was sure she was going to kill someone. If looks could kill, hers surely would have. Driven by the fear (anger and hurt, really) of losing her "family" spot or being "replaced" by a younger more energetic type, Raquel had started showing signs of abnormal and anti-social behavior. When the decision to hire a new maid is finally announced, it is received as nothing less than a declaration of war. It's betrayal, blackball, and banishment, and since Raquel apparently has no where else to go, she fights for what she believes is hers alone. Locking the new maids out of the house, using liberal doses of sarcasm, hiding food from the kids, scrubbing bathtubs with Clorox each time the new maids shower in it… even getting rid of the new kitten who would seemed to be threatening to take her place in receiving whatever little love and affection she gets from the kids. Silva never lets us decide who is going to win.The first additional help hired is a young Peruvian girl who probably symbolizes the current reality in big cities such as Santiago where many Peruvians work as housemaids. Sarcasm directed at the new arrival highlights the intercultural tension present just below the surface of things: "So, you're obviously going to feed Peruvian fare to the family!" This continues for a while until, of course, the good-natured Lucy shows up, and, little by little, wins Raquel's friendship and heart, and provides the opportunity for a dignified exit to all concerned. Sebastián Silva managed to make me laugh about a dark subject by capturing the human elements out of a sea of depressing and gloomy facts: an unorganized, unaccounted for, underpaid, overworked, silent, oft-abused and more-oft simply ignored group of workers. The dark uniform with white collar and front plastic zipper is a great touch. It helps eliminate any tell-tale signs of the life and context of the donner and provides an even and nameless exterior soothing any guilt the employer might harbor. I kept shifting in my seat trying to get comfortable and realized later that perhaps my unease had to do with the fact that Silva reminded me about how socio-economic differences and race play themselves out in reality, about how people are most comfortable within the circle of their own class (when Lucy takes Raquel home to spend Christmas together), how class differences alienate and isolate, and how they are simply there, that's all there is to it. These days, most middle- class families that hire domestic help get part-time help to cook, clean, do laundry and dusting so that the masters can go to work and not have to worry about it all when they get home tired after a day's work. Many Westerners would be less able to relate to this film for lack of experience in this area. Many others would. For it's not just in countries like Chile and India that there is domestic help. We have it here in the US as well. Raquel, being a live- in maid, though, complicates matters a lot. A live-in maid suggests that she is working for a wealthier family who can afford to have someone provide a gentle wake-up call in the morning with coffee in bed. Raquel does not go home to a family (remember the heart- wrenching scene when she cries uncontrollably while talking to her mother we never see), she does not have a life of her own or hobbies to pursue during her time off, and she does not know how to (cannot) get herself out of it. While Raquel is considered "family" by her employers — Pilar certainly makes an effort to treat her with kindness and concern — the subtitle of the movie reads "she's more or less family." In that euphemism resides, in my humble opinion, the core of this dark comedy. After the film, as we were walking back to the parking garage on 2nd street, Katharine remarked (I paraphrase), "you know, I read somewhere that after the film was made, the director's real maid saw it and took off, deciding to get a (new) life!" For this 30-year old director the film has earned a lot of fame, and for his maids, it has earned freedom,
