‘homeland’
Address: Alvaro Gago Diaz
artists: María Vázquez, Soraya Luaces and Santi Prego
Year: 2017
Premiere: February 24, 2023
★★★
In Matria, the craft of the filmmaker duo is palpable. The collaboration between director and screenwriter Alvaro Gago and the lead performer Maria Vazquez yields a portrayal that pulses with relentless energy. The central figure, Ramona, is drawn with a vitality that refuses to let her circumstance define her. She confronts a life stacked with obstacles and relentless pressure, from a cannery job near the rugged Galician coast to intimate strains at home that test her role as a mother and partner. The film refuses to present a heroic narrative of resilience alone. Instead, it crafts a complex, contradictory human being who resists easy labels, who mutters protests under her breath, and who leaps at chances for change when the moment calls for courage. The result is not a straightforward fight against hardship but a nuanced portrait of a woman who navigates, often with grit, the friction between obligation and personal dignity. [Source: Film Journal Review]
Vazquez delivers a performance that sits on the edge of eruption, her skin seemingly stretched taut by the pressures she endures. The anger that flares within her is not simply a burst of temper but a reflection of a life spent balancing precarious loyalties and hard-won survival. When a stranger offers a blanket, a small act of care appears as a rare, fleeting moment of protection and warmth. It becomes a symbolic turning point where Ramona allows herself to pause, to breathe, and to consider the spaces where compassion can take root. This small moment underscores the film’s quiet insistence: care can arrive in the most unexpected places, and when it does, it can alter the rhythm of someone’s life. [Source: Critical Companion]
The film does not glamorize struggle nor pretend it is easily overcome. Instead, it maps the texture of endurance in a world that often feels indifferent. Gago and Vazquez invite viewers to witness not only the external pressures but also the inner dialogue that accompanies each decision Ramona makes. The story unfolds through intimate, observational moments that reveal both vulnerability and stubborn resolve. Ramona’s journey is less about triumph over adversity and more about maintaining humanity in the face of ongoing uncertainty. The depiction is unguarded and unflinching, a cinematic choice that invites empathy without surrendering complexity. [Source: Cinematic Review Archive]