Why Roma Was My Favorite Movie of the Year.

Although the needs and the folly of the upper class dominates ROMA, at heart it is a story about the people who serve them. Or in this case, one woman. The complexity of that relationship is one of the film's greatest insights. Yes, perhaps Cleo is too saint-like to be totally believable, I think the youngest boy sees her exactly like that though, and it is likely that he is a stand in for Cuaron.
Cleo is someone who can stand on one foot, blindfolded. Someone who gives totally to the family she serves and yet has a rich inner life of her own.
There are many small moments in ROMA and the big ones serve as background: earthquakes, fires, revolution, the fury of the ocean, death, divorce, desertion. A shopping trip becomes the backdrop to the Corpus Christi massacre.
Set in 1970-71, the world is both small and large. The first scene, a long, languid one of a patio being washed, sets the tone perfectly. Cleo spends her day attending to the very needy family she works for--too many children, but oh, how they love her. And that love binds her to them. Every scene contributes to a time and place.The actress that plays Cleo, an amateur, is a revelation and Alfonso Cuarón's ROMA is a masterpiece to me. There was not a boring or extraneous scene in the film for me.