What happens when a filmmaker delivers seven cameras to seven children so they can film their maids for a week? Is the proximity space the same with all family members? What is the place of each member in a family structure? When are the boundaries of friendship outpaced and the roles mingled? Of all the possible answers, Gabriel Mascaro’s film brings some of the less common. The innocence with which the daily routines are filmed leads to a staging of intimacy and a result far less naive than its beginning, with genuinely funny moments. Housemaids is a mirror of Brazil, the walls between classes made of Leblon cement and Rocinha bricks. Images shot by children in five different cities were delivered raw to the director for a final editing. (M. M.)
