Housemaids (2013)

A really fascinating documentary in which seven adolescents each spend a week documenting and interviewing their long time house maid. In Brazil having a housemaid is apparently a lot more common then in the United States, and not something confined just to the wealthier classes. One of the maids in the film works for a woman who also works as a maid, with a housemaids role in this society often more a combination of nanny and housekeeper then just cleaning lady. The housemaids documented in this film often blur the lines between employee and family member, with two of them being more then the first generation in employ to the same family. The six women and one man documented all have fascinating, varied, and often tragic personal stories, with the death of children featuring prominently in two of them. I really didn't expect this to be as entrancing as it was, a work subtly genius in conception and execution. Worthy your time. ****