★ 9 / 10
An unique, mesmerizing clash of cultures
evelezc
I found this movie in Spamflix, as I could not find a way to watch it through any of the usual US channels. It is a very interesting movie from Argentina. My…
I found this movie in Spamflix, as I could not find a way to watch it through any of the usual US channels.
It is a very interesting movie from Argentina. My feeling is that it is a good metaphor of what happened with the discovery of the new world. The title, which in Spanish means "The Decent Ones", will force you to ask yourself the questions of what is really decency, what really the decent thing to do, and at what point being decent is no longer an option and you have to fight back.
Spoilers below, which in no way will detract from watching the movie, as the visuals are the real treat here.
It follows a working class woman, Belen. She interviews for a live-in maid job. We soon see here traveling by bus to a suburban, gated community for the well off, surrounded by electrified fences. There, she walks empty, manicured roads to the large house where she will serve. Lets herself in and soon meets her employers, an stiff and courteously arrogant woman, Diana, and her son. She gets her duties explained and starts her job. We see she gets treated in a patronizing, but "courteous" way very typical of South American upper classes. Belen keeps her head down and keeps the servile attitude that is expected from her. One day, while trimming hedges, she sees something at the other side that piques her interest. She goes out of the compound and walks to the neighboring property. She opens the gate and sees there is a nude couple walking away in the distance. She nervously returns. Her curiosity, however, is awakened. Diana and her son, a young aspiring professional tennis player, leave for the weekend, leaving Belen alone in the house. Belen is clearly bored. She goes out on an date with the guard she met on her first day. They go to an amusement park and have an awkward date. The following days she again returns to the neighboring property, which has the appearance of a somewhat abandoned resort that has an abundance of trees and greenery (in contrast with the sterile, golf-course like lawns of the gated community where she serves). Nudists leisurely stroll by or lie down in the sun, and Belen walks around them. No one questions her or asks her anything. She returns to the house. Diana becomes ever more disrespectful of Belen's time in her "polite" and falsely gracious manner, for example, awakening her from sleep to keep her company when she can't sleep, and forcing her to watch old videos of her encouraging her son to play golf. We then see Belen go again on a date with the guard. They go to a "motel" (a typical roadside motel from South America where couples sneak to have sex). There, the guard awkwardly lies down and brushes Belen off when she attempts to stimulate him for sex. He turns and sleeps. This leaves her clearly frustrated. The following day, she goes by herself to a pharmacy and buys suntan lotion. We see her then going to the nudist compound, and undressing. She goes out nude, covering herself with her hands, in the presence of a group of nudists. They embrace her warmly and treat her as one of their own. It seems that among the nudists, anyone who dares to be there nude with them is treated as equal. She is not asked who she is, and there is no distinction of class or any questioning, she is immediately accepted. We then see that, aside from the usual enjoyment of nature in the nude, the nudist commune has an interest in tantric sex. Belen attends a lecture on tantric sex, still acting somewhat embarrassed and covering her private parts. However, she does participate and allows a man to touch her. She returns to her maid work, and realizes Diana's son has wet the bed. She takes out the mattress to the courtyard to let it air. She then interacts with the guard, and learns where the master switch for the electrified gate is located. Belen keeps returning to the nudist commune, and begins to participate of the discussions and activities with more confidence and less awkwardness. She begins to look as relaxed as them. Upon return to Diana's house, she witnesses her son being violent with Diana during dinner, due to a comment she makes about careers (throws a glass of water at her). It seems she is a frustrated, short-tempered mama's boy and Diana clearly is an overbearing mother. Belen keeps returning to the nudist community when she is left alone, and more and more, she is becoming a different woman. She walks differently, upright, sensually aware and relaxed, and eventually, on a night dance, dances with the man she had previously interacted with. There is a meeting, where the nudist leader reveals they have ben a community for a long time and want to preserve their right no matter what. We also see one of the nudists is an avid hunter and Belen gets to shoot birds with a gun with her. Eventually, one of the activities involves the nudists painting themselves as animals they identify with. By then Belen is painted as a jaguar, moves as sensually as one, and eventually joins in a tantric orgy. When she returns to the gated community, a neighbor comes with a request for Diana to sign a petition, the gated community is looking to ask the municipality to kick the nudists out. This gets hastened by the electrocution of one of the nudists, an old man who is always planting trees, along the fence. We see the nudists get kicked out by the police while they argue that it is not their fault. Belen seems to be maddened by the closure of the nudist community. She returns on the sly, and seems to long for the freedom and peace she experiences there in the nude, where she does not wear the maid frock. The nudists are seen plotting something then. Eventually, we see Belen gives a cup of tea poisoned with a drug to Diana. She leaves the house, no longer with her head down and her spine curved down, but with her hair down and the feline walk she developed at the nudist commune. She cuts the power to the fence. We then see the nudists storming the gated community with guns and shooting dead many of the residents. The movie ends with the nudists being shot one by one by the guards as they fight them back. It does not appear that Belen participates in the killing, however.
I found the movie is a bit slow in the beginning, but this is necessary to show the tension of the world Belen she lives in, one in which she has to be constantly ready to serve while in sterile, boring and depersonalizing surroundings where she is not seen or acknowledged unless someone needs her service.
In a way that is probably unexpected to Americans, the movie shows a number of nudists without any pretenses of modesty, and there is no attempt to conceal full frontal nudity. This is of course fundamental to the story and common for cinema in Europe and Latin America.
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★ 7 / 10
Culture Clash and Double Life
Blue-Grotto
Belen begins a job as a housemaid in a wealthy, gated community on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She keeps her head down, works hard and gets to know area…
Belen begins a job as a housemaid in a wealthy, gated community on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. She keeps her head down, works hard and gets to know area residents who are in various states of arrested development due to their isolation and arrogance. One fine day, through the brush, Belen catches a glimpse of an adjacent nudist colony. Her curiosity soon leads her to the club. As Belen discovers her passionate side, she starts to smile and enjoy life for once. She begins to lead a double life, slipping away from the security obsessed and intolerant community to enjoy workshops, skin on skin contact and freedom. As the two cultures clash, Belen is forced to choose between them. There are profound consequences because of this, for her as well as the spheres she inhabits.
This Spanish language satire is based on a real club and controversy in Buenos Aires, yet it is exaggerated here and taken to a vastly different conclusion. I quite enjoyed watching Belen lose her inhibitions and gain happiness in her life. Order for the sake of order, and the separation it entails, is no way to live. The film reveals this conceit. A few characters could be better developed, the acting of some of the supporting cast leaves something to be desired, and the conclusion is far-fetched (maybe I took it too seriously), yet overall it is enjoyable, refreshing and, of course, delightfully unadorned. Seen at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
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5.7/10
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