Spanish language
Parallel stories of young women making their way in Peruvian high society.
“Dioses” is a film about a group of wealthy adolescents in Peru. They spend most of their time getting drunk in elegant beach houses in the south that somehow evoke images of Mt. Olympus and the Greek gods (Dionysus especially). They have conversations about whether they should buy a Suzuki or a Ford F150, whether they should go to Miami for the summer, or how many houses they should buy. They make slovenly messes which are cleaned up by their Ketchua speaking maids. Sometimes they get pregnant by unknown fathers, and this too is handled without causing much of a ripple in their frivolous lives.
I suppose the fascination with the wealthy elite is something that stretches beyond cultural boarders and into the fantasies of people from all walks of life. Most people, at some point or another, must fantasize about living a life where you're free to do whatever you want, and your actions are without consequence. The drive for wealth has greatly superseded purer ambitions in our modern world, but what is often left out in the telling is that even if you have the means to erase your problems, they still leave you with a burden you must carry to the end of your days.
“Dioses” begins with a shot of Andrea (Anahí de Cárdenas) dancing with her back to the audience. She's tanned, anonymous, and sweaty, seeking the illusion of escape that only throbbing music and endless beer can provide. Within the course of thirty seconds, she allows herself to be passed between two different, random guys, eventually accompanying one of them to the bathroom. Watching in the wings is her brother Diego (Sergio Gjurinovic) who has what can be called an unhealthy obsession with his sister.
The next morning, Diego and Andrea's father Agustín (Edgar Saba) introduces them to his new girlfriend Elisa (Maricielo Effio). Elisa is only slightly older than the two children, and upon looking at her Andrea sneers and says, “who is this, the new maid?” Andrea and her brother laugh nasally at the jest and then engage in a food fight as Elisa looks on in shock. You know that Andrea, at least, is aware of the poverty that exists in much of Peru, and somehow the spiteful indifference of others Diego and Andrea proudly display in their comments, their actions, and their general apathy is about as horrible as anything you'll ever see.
The more we learn about Elisa, the more we understand how close Andrea's comments were to the actual mark. Elisa is a beautiful young woman of humble origins who has bought into the illusion of wealth and is trying to learn the mannerisms of “high society.” She spends her time with a group of wealthy wives who casually go through a variety of fleeting interests. Elisa makes a noble effort, but the wealthy women see through her instantly and there's a lot of snickering behind her back. Elisa makes the mistake of thinking she can integrate herself through study; however, it's not actual knowledge that these people possess, but merely a cultivated attitude, a sense of superiority unfounded in any achievement. To a person from the working class, that simple truth is nearly impossible to accept.
“Dioses” exposes many illusions about a certain class of people. Watching the film, you'll be disgusted with many of the characters, but you'll never descend into hating them. The director Josué Méndez isn't preaching, he's simply showing people as they are, the good and the bad, and in the end you'll feel sympathy for all the major players. In the most powerful scene of the movie, the maids are talking to each other quietly in Ketchua. By this point in the film, the servants have been such background characters that it's jolting to have they brought to center stage. They are portrayed as so silent and submissive that the audience, like the people they attend, is lured into forgetting that they are capable of independent observation. “These people are so strange,” they say referring to their employers, “all they do is drink, sleep, and make messes, and they're all so unhappy.”
I suppose it would be unfathomable for the wealthy to consider that, yes, even their servants are capable of judgment. I suppose in most cases the servants' comments would be dismissed with a snort and a wave of the hand, but it's interesting to note that the hardworking maids are the only people in “Dioses” who are shown to have true joy in their lives. Show me the fancy store in Europe, the US, or anyplace where you can purchase that.
