Casa de los babys (2003)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

John Sayles

Writer (WGA):

John Sayles (written by)

Release Date:

1 January 2004 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Six Women. One Dream.

Plot:

Six American women who planned on travelling to South America to adopt babies are forced, by law, to live there.

Plot Keywords:

Baby | South America | Adoption | Hotel Room | Bureaucracy

Cast

Angelina Peláez	...	Doña Mercedes
Lizzie Curry Martinez	...	Sor Juana (as Lizzie Martínez)
Vanessa Martinez	...	Asunción (as Vanessa Martínez)
Amanda Álvarez	...	Blanca
Said Martinez	...	Eusebio (as Said Martínez)
Abel Salas	...	Bus Driver 1
Marco Mondragón	...	Bus Driver 2
José Reyes	...	Van Driver
Claudia Benitez	...	Woman on Bus (as Claudia Benítez)
Ignacio de Anda	...	Tito (as Ignacio De Anda)
José Reyes Jr.	...	Grande
Emmanuel González	...	Chico
El Flaco de Oro de Acapulco	...	El Tuerto (as El Flaco De Oro De Acapulco)
Dave Baez	...	Rufino (as David Ortíz)
Blanca Loaria	...	Socorro

MPAA:

Rated R for some language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA | Mexico

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Germany:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich)

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

IFC Films

Quotes:

Leslie: ...You gotta admit, she's a sociopath.
Gayle: Is that anything like a psychopath?
Leslie: With a lower body count, yeah.

Movie Connections:

References The Stepford Wives (1975)

Soundtrack:

Un Son Para Ti

Soul-diving...and the best female cast in years.

Casa De Los Babys deals with so many issues... so many that John Sayles would need a 100 hours long movie to go deeply into all of them. And since that's not possible he manages to do it in +/-90 minutes.

Let's see: 4 north-american women (plus one from Ireland) stay in some hotel in México waiting to adopt a child. 5 different personalities, 5 different ways of facing life, 5 different existences. We have the reactionary-arrogant-and-proud-northamerican one (Marcia Gay H.), the rebel and nonconformist one (Lily Taylor), the catholic-alcoholic (Steenburgen), the misterious and reserved one (Hannah), and the dreamer (Susan Lynch). In 90 minutes we find out what do they expect from life, what are their fears, their desires; we find out about their personal dramas and their social status; what they've been through (Sayles manages to do that with only a dialogue line in many of the cases) and so... Also we have the fact that those women from the first world, have come to a third world country in order to adopt a child. With 4 or 5 sequences Sayles perfectly explains WHY México is a country where people comes to adopt children to, and why thousands of mexican women have to get rid of their babys. We see children of the street (7 or 8 years old homeless kids robbing and taking drugs),young girls getting pregnant and being forced to give their babys away (in a Catholic country just like México, abortion ain't an option), men that cannot find a job, and the corruption that hides in third world countries' bureaucracy. Well, so many things to thing about. We need more movies just like this one. Social cinema (Ken Loach, Frears, León de Aranoa) is frowned upon by some people, maybe because it makes them fell guilty.

And what to say about the cast? The five starring actresses may not be the most handsome, nor the most famous, may not have the best bodies... But let me tell you something: this is the best female cast in years. If the Oscar's were for real they should give a goddamn golden little naked man to each and every one of the women that appear in Casa De Los Babys. Not only to the anglo-saxon ones, but also to the mexican cast. If you don't care about third world's penuries, nor about people's personal dramas, you should go and watch Casa De Los Babys just to know what it means to be an ACTRESS.

My rate: 8/10