It’s important now, more than ever, that we see depictions of Latinx in media that go beyond the impoverished immigration narrative. Latinx who may have accents and who may be immigrants, but who’ve lived and worked (legally even!) for decades and are intelligent, thoughtful, nuanced people. The above trailer promises that the upcoming film Beatriz at Dinner, from Puerto Rican director Miguel Arteta, will deliver just that.
Salma Hayek plays the titular Beatriz, a healer that works with a wealthy white couple (played by Connie Britton and David Warshofsky) that swears by her and sings her praises. That is, until an even wealthier house guest, played by John Lithgow, is invited to a dinner the couple is hosting, along with Beatriz and some other friends (played by Transparent‘s Amy Landecker and Jay Duplass, along with Chloë Sevigny).
He’s the stereotypical (or is that, typical? Can’t be sure these days…) Trump supporter and Conservative blowhard: assuming Beatriz is the maid, bragging about hunting and killing endangered animals, and needling Beatriz about her legal status and contributions to the country.
When Beatriz stands up for herself, that’s where the real incisiveness begins. It’s at that point that we see that even the wealthy white people who were singing her praises will turn against her the second their support of her is in any way inconvenient. Their relationship to a wealthy white man is more important to them than their relationship to a Latina who cares for them.
I also noticed that the IMDb description of the plot reads, “A holistic medicine practitioner attends a wealthy client’s dinner party after her car breaks down.” So, it’s not as if the couple were going to invite her, it seems. She’s only invited when she’s stranded there. Uh-huh.
The moment that made me damn near stand up and cheer was when Connie Britton’s character cluelessly says, after Beatriz lets Lithgow’s character have it, “I kind of feel like…I don’t even know you.”
To which Beatriz replies, “You don’t know me.”
Beatriz at Dinner hits theaters June 9th.
And to any wealthy white people out there who hire people of color to do stuff for you, you don’t get to claim having “Latinx friends” or “black friends” if the only way you associate with them is by paying them to be in your employ. That’s not friendship, that’s a hierarchy.
(via Beatriz at Dinner on Facebook, image: screencap)
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