One of the most respected and influential independent filmmakers, John Sayles has made a career of churning out acclaimed films with a degree of commercial success while staying in the indie-film circuit. Early films like “Return of the Secaucus Seven”, “Lianna”, “The Brother from Another Planet”, “Matewan”, and “Baby It’s You” to his more famous and acclaimed work like the baseball movie “Eight Men Out”, “Passion Fish”, “City of Hope” “The Secret of Roan Inish” and his most famous work, “Lone Star” solidified him as storyteller-writer/director who makes films about people and the world around them. Sayles was also a director who knew no boundaries when he released “Men with Gun”, a film entirely done in Spanish with mostly Latin actors. In 2003, Sayles returns to Latin America where he mixes the cultural flavor of “Men with Guns” with the struggles of women in his films like “Passion Fish”, “Limbo”, and “Sunshine State” for a movie about women wanting to adopt babies in South America entitled, “Casa de Los Babys”.

“Casa de Los Babys” is a compelling ensemble drama set in an unnamed South American country where six American women try to adopt babies in that country. Along the way, they have to endure the political and cultural differences of their country and the country they’re in. John Sayles provides a sense of reality to the film to enhance the bitterness Latin Americans have towards Americans about adopting children along with the economic turmoil as well as what possible futures these children are facing. With an ensemble cast that includes Sayles veterans Susan Lynch, Mary Steenburgen, and Vanessa Martinez along with Oscar winners Marcia Gay Harden and Rita Moreno, veterans Lily Taylor and Daryl Hannah and current breakout star Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Casa de Los Babys” is an excellent, provocative film about women trying to adopt children in a world filled with turmoil.

The film begins with a look into the life of a young teenage maid named Asuncion (Vanessa Martinez) who is raising her two youngest siblings in their poverty-stricken home in the mountains. She along with the working class from the mountains walk down and take the bus to the city were Asuncion works in a hotel run by a colorful, brash woman named Senora Munoz (Rita Moreno). Munoz uses the hotel for women from other countries trying to adopt children as she is having problems dealing with one guest while a man named Diomedes (Bruno Bichir) is trying to find a job at the hotel but Munoz wants to hire but she has nothing for him at the moment. Munoz has another problem with her son Bruho (Juan Carlos Vives) who tries to help out but isn’t fond of Americans since he feels they’re bringing problems to the country.

We then meet up with the American women led by a hard-nosed woman named Nan (Marcia Gay Harden) who has been waiting two months to adopt a child in the country since she couldn’t adopt one in the U.S. She is joined by a NYC magazine editor named Leslie (Lily Taylor), a born-again Christian named Gayle (Mary Steenburgen), and a rich newlywed named Jennifer (Maggie Gyllenhaal) as they all discuss the waiting for their adoption reports. Another American woman named Skipper (Daryl Hannah) doesn’t interact much with the women as she is trying to hide something by swimming in a pool or run in the beach while Irish-American Eileen (Susan Lynch) is at her hotel room waiting for her adoption report as well.

In the city, there’s a young teenage girl named Celia (Martha Higareda), who is pregnant and by the time she gives birth, she is forced by her mother (Tony Marcin) to give it up for adoption. While that’s going on, a group of street kids are trying to survive their poverty-stricken world as they are forced to steal and do things. In the beach, the American women are waiting as Nan wonders if Leslie should have a kid as she suspects her to be a lesbian. Leslie just wants to adopt a kid just to find a new relationship away from other people as she is being flirted by a young college student named Reynaldo (Guillermo Ivan Duenas).

Later in the day as Asuncion talks with her co-workers about children and the guest Senora Munoz and everyone call her a witch, the American women shop for dolls as Jennifer tells the gang that she is naming her child after her husband Henley where Leslie makes a funny remark about the name where the child be called Henley Jr. and Leslie says, “You know, they can’t say their J’s”. One of the street kids tries to steal something from Eileen but ends up getting a book from her. During a lunch break as the women discuss about the adoption process, Jennifer calls her husband where she reveals that her marriage is in trouble and she’s in tears over the fact that he’s not really up for the idea of adoption since she can’t conceive one.

The women split up for sightseeing and other businesses as Nan meets up with her lawyer and Senora Munoz’ brother Ernesto (Pedro Armendariz Jr.) as she is upset with the slow process things are going and Ernesto doesn’t want to get into any trouble with his government. Nan attempts to bribe him but he refuses to take the bribe as he later calls his sister and realizes who that person is in the hotel. Gayle meanwhile, goes to an AA meeting where she reveals to a group of locals that she’s a former alcoholic who has been straight for months. Jennifer and Skipper go sightseeing as they meet up with Diomedes, who tells them about his problems and he is trying to raise money to go to Philadelphia to get a nice job there. Leslie and Eileen are in the same fortress Jennifer and Skipper are seeing as Leslie just wants to her child to prepare for the toughness life is going to bring as she admits, it’s tough love but she just wants her kid to be strong.

With the day looming, Skipper tells Jennifer her secret while Eileen talks to Asuncion about her desire to be a mother while Asuncion (who doesn’t speak English) talks about the child she was forced to give up years ago. Later as night approaches, Reynaldo sees Celia, who feels trapped by her mother and the life she is about to face while the street kids are desperate to try and sell things as they’re forced to vent their dreary life through sniffing paint while Gayle and Leslie have a talk about Nan as the realities of things come into place with Bruho talking to his friends about his fears of Americans adopting children into the country he’s living in.

What makes a film by John Sayles very interesting is how he weaves his way into making characters flawed by strong characters, even if they’re unlikable. Though his script at times is a bit inconsistent with its varied subplots and the pacing of the film is a bit slow, “Casa de Los Babys” is a very compelling and cerebral drama that makes the audience think, particularly on the economic turmoil Latin American countries are in and how much they have to depend on the U.S. Sayles brings richness into his film including the look of the city (which is Acapulco) in its poverty-stricken tone in the mountains along with its beautiful beaches and night neon lights in the city that is both old and modern as he and cinematographer Maurizio Rubinstein captures it beautifully. Especially the film’s music of traditional and modern Latin music is well put, especially in its atmospheric tone captured by longtime Sayles collaborator Mason Daring.

On the performance front, every character in the film stands out one way or another and there is no best performance in the film since overall, everyone does an outstanding job. In the Mexican casting, the characters played Juan Carlos Vives, Pedro Armendariz Jr., Martha Higareda, and Bruno Bichir all have a scene where they capture a moment or two, notably Bichir who plays the film’s dreamer. The locals are well in tact, especially the young street kids that stand out through their economic troubles trying to survive in their country as they represent something that the Juan Carlos Vives’ Bruho character seems to overlook. Sayles veteran Vanessa Martinez is amazing as the sullen Asuncion as she plays a young woman who misses her child as she is trying to raise her own young siblings. Rita Moreno, of course, is masterful in her performance as Senora Munoz as she brings in some frustrations towards the way she is running her hotel and her own son, who sometimes smokes dope on the job.

In the American part of the cast, Marcia Gay Harden is amazing as a woman you love to hate since she complains a lot, likes her food cooked in an American way and steal things from maids when they’re not watching as the audience wonders if she really deserves to have a child. Lily Taylor provides the film’s more comedic performances with her quick-witted tongue as a young woman who is a little tough but at least is caring about the future she’s going to give to her child. Mary Steenburgen is excellent as Gayle who reveals her secrets a bit while she defends anyone who is being insulted as she sort of plays the film’s conscience. Susan Lynch is amazing as Eileen who delivers a heartbreaking performance in the film, especially in her scene with Vanessa Martinez that is just overwhelmingly powerful. Maggie Gyllenhaal delivers another amazing performance, since breaking through with “Secretary”, as she plays a young woman hoping to repair her marriage as she delivers two great performances in her phone call scene with her husband and a heart wrenching scene with Daryl Hannah, who delivers a lovely performance, where her reveals the secret that shows how underrated Hannah is as an actress.

Possibly appearing on an upcoming DVD sometime in the future is a making of “Casa de Los Babys” entitled “Beyond Borders: John Sayles in Mexico”. “Beyond Borders” is an hour and 45 minute documentary where filmmaker Bruno de Almeida follows Sayles and his cast in Acapulco. The documentary has small interviews with the cast, notably Harden, Hannah, Taylor, Moreno, and Steenburgen along with interviews with its Mexican cast. The documentary chronicles the different landscapes of Acapulco through its lovely beaches to the poorer section in the town up above in the mountains. The film’s Mexican actors and crew talk about the conditions of Mexico as they often hire extras, particularly the children to work on the film where Sayles often gives them instructions in Spanish while trying to make them comfortable in a certain scene.

The film also revolves in the issues about adoption in other countries and the different cultures revolving the U.S. and Mexico. In America, we really don’t know who the Mexican president is but in Mexico, they do know who the U.S. and Mexican presidents are since their country depends on us and they know for the fact that we’re having problems too. “Beyond Borders” is an interesting documentary since it touches on the poverty of Mexico and third world countries and their reluctance for Americans to adopt children from those countries, which is very understandable. It’s something fans of John Sayles should look at if they’ve seen it on IFC or can wait to see once it’s released on DVD.

While not in the par of “Lone Star”, “Passion Fish” or earlier films, “Casa de Los Babys” is an excellent film from John Sayles. Though some might find the pacing a bit slow and the script a bit inconsistent, it’s still a very compelling drama with a dash of comedy. Sayles does though, manage to balance the film as a part-foreign film with the Latin characters speaking entirely in Spanish while on the American front, it’s a lovely indie-drama. It’s a very modern film since the language barriers aren’t really different when it comes to depth and as Lily Taylor’s character Leslie says, “Stupidity is the universal language” in reference to lame Spanish talk show. Sayles fans would find this film as something essential, though not as groundbreaking, while fans of Maggie Gyllenhaal will find this as her third best performance behind “Secretary” and “Cecil B. Demented”. Though it’s better to see indie films like “Lost in Translation” and “American Splendor” in the theaters, “Casa de Los Babys” is still a film worth seeing in an art house venture. Anyone into strong performances, genre-bending, and lovely stories will love “Casa de Los Babys”.


Recommended: Yes