Set in La Paz we meet an upper class family whose matriarch rules the roost having divorced her husband but retained the house, the kids and the servants. Her three children seem to want for nothing, the daughter and eldest son seem to think hedonism is a virtue and embrace it with full gusto. The youngest is totally charming and seems to walk the divide between the privilege of his family and the drudgery of the domestics.
The butler Wilson does everything for them from cooking their meals to finding where they have left their towel and is a virtual slave to the job – even losing touch with his Aymaran roots and village. But things are moving on in Bolivia, the times they are a changin' and the age of blatant discrimination is coming to an end. The luxurious home in which they live in their protected bubble is about to burst as outside factors and internal strife play catch up.
This is a beautifully made, filmed and acted piece of cinema. It oozes style too and the extensive use of white to dramatic and stylistic effect is truly powerful. It is a film where there are slow reveals but all of them just build and build and the plot will carry you along to the ultimate dénouement. I absolutely loved this film and wish we were afforded more chances to see films from the director Juan Carlos Valdivia in the west – we are missing out on a great talent.
