MAIDS

Norman Mailer was wrong about the Armies of the Night; they are not revolutionary streetfighters but domestic housecleaners, millions of women united over mop, bucket and stove to sweep and cook. And occasionally take the blame for what may or may not be their fault, in the residences and offices of the upper clases of S?o Paulo, setting for Renata Melo's hit stage play, here inventively and irreverently transmuted to celluloid. Nobody grows up wanting to be a maid, complains one such working girl to the camera, but such is the life path followed by wizened, motherly Zefa, lovestruck Raimunda, practical but fun-loving Cida, glamorous (and undeniably lazy) Roxane, and melancholy, pious Quit?ria. They comprise the core cast of this bubbly ensemble comedy-drama set in the substrata of Brazil's working poor, where mansions alternate with shanties, despair with hilarity, foolishness with wisdom, magic with the everyday. As a botched bus robbery leads to unlikely romance, a fatal sofa claims its victim and a prostitution racket has an unexpected bonus, you'll root for these heroines and their efforts to scrape together an apronful of happiness for themselves. (In Portugese with English subtitles)