In a recent podcast, Rebecca Drysdale noted that Pixar films tend to have a single scene or moment that serves as the overall thesis of the film; even when taken out of context, it represents the major theme of the narrative, storytelling in both the micro- individual moment and the macro- larger piece it’s embodied within.
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, a cinematic triumph in countless ways, achieves just that in a climactic scene on the beach. Housekeeper, nanny, and Jill-of-all-trades Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) is on “vacation” with the family of her employer: Sofia, a middle-aged mother, and her children. Sofia and one of her sons go further inland, and Sofia asks Cleo (who can’t swim) to watch the other kids as they wade in the water. Cleo keeps an eye on the youngest, who’s playing on the beach, as two of the older children bob further and further away into the sea.
The camera stays on Cleo as she watches the kids, who have gone out of the frame. A few moments pass, and she calls out to them, but no response back. Cleo tells the youngest to stay put, and she makes her way into the ocean. She walks easily through the shallow end, then cautiously treads water, continuing out into the Atlantic as she braces the impact of waves pounding on her, nearly knocking her over, but she never falters, pushing forward until she finds the children, grabs ahold of them, and ushers them back to the shore.
In one masterful shot, Cuarón distills all the struggles, strengths, and love within Cleo. The preceding two hours of the Roma show Cleo facing countless horrors, travesties, and tragedies as a young woman without tools or means to combat the harsh reality around her. But she pushes on anyway. She can’t swim, but as a nanny and surrogate mother to these children, she does what’s needed in order to save them.
Death and violence are recurring themes in Roma. Like the undulating cadence of the ocean’s waves, they strike again and again, never ceasing to stop or allowing a breath for air. Cleo is embedded within innumerable hardships and trials through the course of the film, but her spirit of resilience and love doesn’t waver. Roma is a story of how someone can be shunned, abused, all but forgotten from society, and be the strongest and most compassionate person of all.
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